Manhattan Mystery: The Menace of Mysterio
by Mastah Jasonic
Summary: When the Hex Girls go on tour en route to New York, Mystery Inc. tags along, crossing paths with Spider-Man in a spell-binding mystery to catch the menacing wizard of Mysterio. Meanwhile, Mystery Inc. and Peter Parker's friends must work on inner and outer circle jealousy issues. Takes inspiration from the cartoons while also maintaining its own identity.
1. Criminals Unmasked

**Author's Note:** _Hello, users at Fanfiction! This is my first real ongoing fanfiction/crossover for you all to read! I've been on/posted to this site before, but never truly had the chance to upload a full-length story before this one. Now I am aware that there are already a few other Scooby-Doo/Spider-Man crossovers on here, but, in my honest opinion, this one is truly unique in the sense that it involves not only Spidey and the Mystery Gang, but also features several other characters from both franchises such as Peter Parker's friends as well as the Hex Girls. Also, based on the title alone, you can most certainly tell this one will be about them taking on Mysterio whom I believe is the most fitting candidate for a villain to bring both parties together. So, without further adieu I present to you..._

* * *

 **Scooby-Doo Meets Spider-Man: Manhattan Mystery - The Menace of Mysterio**

'Twas the finest day in the busy streets of Manhattan, New York. Cars drove across the gridded expanses of road that lined the city en route to their destinations. In addition to exhaust fumes, warm, Spring-filled air poured its way throughout the atmosphere, effectively clearing up the murky, snowy coldness that came seasonally in the form of Winter. For the heroes of Manhattan, this meant a rise in crime would likely be imminent.

And so, with strict vigilance and a watchful eye, a figure clad in a red and blue spider-themed suit made his daily appearance leaping from the rooftops with great agility and acrobatics. Letting out a loud cowboy interjection, the Web-head commonly known as "the Amazing Spider-Man" was clearly having the time of his life diving off the buildings as gravity took him toward the streets below. As with every web swing he ever made, he shot a thread of silky spider web-like substance from his webshooters, which latched onto the nearest building. Kicking his legs out, he swung over an oncoming tour bus, arching back up into the buildings.

"Good afternoon, New York! Today's forecast calls for a potential rise in crime waves followed by a storm of red and blue to wipe it out!" Spider-Man shouted, mimicking the nature of a news reporter.

With several web shootings coupled with flips and tricks, Spidey flew his way through the concrete canyons of the city en route for the nearest crime in progress. Eventually, he made his way onto the top of a tall building to take a breather. Despite working as New York's main crime fighter for a little over a year, Spider-Man still found his job rather thrilling since it meant digging into the corners of the city to root out petty criminals and solve bigger mysteries. Even so, he still considered himself an amateur sleuth.

One thing he wasn't amateur at was locating danger. Utilizing his sixth sense known as "Spider Sense", he scanned the horizons of the city when suddenly a security alarm rang nearby, alerting his Spider Sense to the dangers ahead. In response, Spidey launched himself from the building and tumbled through the city until he located the bank close by. Not wanting to take his precious time barging in, Spidey propelled his legs toward the nearest glass window, shattering it into a million pieces as he slid steadily onto the floor beneath. Naturally, his entrance garnered the attention of the quintet of criminals with guns and masks, both of which got Spidey's attention. Not to his surprise, they already cleared out the atrium by their own aggressive means.

"Spider-Man!" shouted a man in a ghoulish mob mask. "Couldn't stay away from our big heist now could you?"

"Whoa, hold on! _Me_? Getting up in _your_ business?" Spidey retorted. "You're the one stealing the city's funds for all I care!"

The criminals fired their guns, the bullet shots echoing throughout the atrium and alerting the building's personnel. Spidey swiftly dodged the bullets by shooting a web line that allowed him to zip away toward and stick to the nearest wall for safety.

"Hold on a minute! Can't we talk this out crooks to spider?" Spidey pleaded jokingly.

"We only let our guns do the talking," the main crook remarked. "Sick 'em, boys!"

Firing a barrage of bullets at the Web-head, the crooks concentrated all fire on Spider-Man as he acrobatically swung off the ceiling and evaded each shot as he swung around them. Concentrating his webshooters toward them, Spidey fired back his own web shots at the criminals, striking them wherever he could - their guns, their masked faces, etc. - before dropping to the ground to take them on. Two of the now gunless criminals charged at Spidey, fists ready, and swung hastily at him, but he was too quick to just stand there and take it. After dodging their fists _Matrix_ -style, he caught them both with his bare, or more accurately gloved, hands.

"Puh-lease, you shouldn't even _wish_ to beat me in a fist fight!" Spidey quipped.

He twisted one criminal's wrist and dropped him to the ground before turning to kick the other one up toward the ceiling. Simultaneously, he shot strands of webs to web them both up in their respective positions. Before he could quip, more bullets from the leader's gun whizzed by him in what seemed to be slow motion, his Spider Sense forcing him to backflip away from them. He then proceeded to flip sideways, shoot a webline that attached to the criminal's gun, and pulled it, effectively yanking it away from him as he swung it around the room before letting it go. The firearm smacked another one of his mooks in his masked face so hard that he immediately fell to the floor, out cold from the impact. Just when the second to last criminal thought he was lucky enough to pounce on him from behind, Spidey clocked him right in the jaw before he could even lay a finger on him. Of course, because Spidey was so far away, the main criminal saw this as an opportunity to get away with his loot, which he left in a bag on the floor, scooping it up as he rushed away. But then Spidey and his ultra fast wall crawling abilities allowed him to get ahead and surprise him by hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"Hi, there!" Spidey said popping into view as he brought a webline down with him. "Could you hold this for me? Thanks!"

Spidey handed the crook his web, and, before he could react, he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, dropping his money in the process. Spidey then dropped from his webline and approached the dangling criminal whose mask was so grotesque that it was hard to imagine a face underneath.

"Seriously, what is with you guys wearing masks all of the sudden? That's my shtick!" Spidey complained as he yanked the guy's mask off revealing the face of a Caucasian male in his thirties underneath. "My webshooters better not be on the black market or I'll start suing those who give them out to lowlifes like you!"

"Careful what you say around here, Spider-Man!" the criminal retorted. "We wear them so that we don't get caught. And I'd have been lucky enough to not be recognized at the Hex Girls concert in a few days if it wasn't for you coming in and going all 'hero' on us!"

This comment caused Spidey to jolt back in shock over what he had forgotten earlier.

"Oh, man, the concert! I totally forgot!" Spidey muttered under his breath. "Um, I don't normally say this to your kind, but thanks for the reminder! And be sure to tell the police this was all courtesy of your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man while you let the blood rush to your head!"

Unwilling to listen to the criminal's comeback, Spider-Man sprinted out the way he came in and hurriedly swung back through the city en route for the suburbs of Queens where Midtown High was located. Although catching thieves just like flies was one of Spidey's biggest specialties, the one thing he lacked ambition in was catching things on time. And, with his school selling tickets to the upcoming Hex Girls concert in Manhattan, he fully resented the fact that he was about to miss the deadline or he would let his friends down yet again as with any typical civilian outing he had. Being super was one thing, but that was just an alter-ego to his high school student self commonly known as "Puny Parker", "Bookworm Parker", and "Stinky Pete" amongst other offensive nicknames the jocks came up with. Thankfully, though, he had friends who called him by his real name, Peter Parker, and what he wouldn't give to hear that they were proud of him for a change. Sure, being a junior in high school with open lunch had its benefits for his Spider-Man duties, but every so often he let it get in the way of quality time with friends to a point where they didn't seem to like him at times. And, since they were so excited about this Spring Break concert to the point of obsessing about it, he knew he wasn't about to let them down.

Eventually, Spidey made his way into an alleyway just outside the school. Remaining well out of sight, Peter changed back into his civilian clothes before making his way back onto the schoolyard and darting through the front doors. Not caring about who he would bump into, Peter sprinted his way into the cafeteria where he hoped the ticket booth - which was set to close at one p.m. the Friday before Spring Break - had miraculously still been in business for a while longer. However, Peter found himself utterly disappointed when he found the nerdy student council leader packing everything up.

"Sorry, my last ticket just sold and now we're closed," the student explained rather condescendingly. "You should really learn to grab them while you have the chance."

He walked away, leaving Peter to sit down in a nearby windowsill to sulk about yet another failure. _Parker_ , _you are a grade-A procrastinator,_ Peter thought to himself. _They may as well throw you under the Hex Girls' tour bus soon as they arrive._

Just when he couldn't have thought of a more suitable punishment for himself, Peter had his thoughts broken up by the sight of his best friends standing across the way talking amongst themselves. The gorgeous redhead, Mary Jane Watson, stood turned away from him looking at him over her shoulder concerningly. Despite his enhanced hearing, Peter couldn't make out what they were saying the distance he sat away from them. Gwen Stacy, the blonde girl with a book in her hand, and Harry Osborn, the only nicely dressed guy in the group, were both uttering what Peter knew would most likely be disses for missing the ticket deadline. He didn't dare think about what they were thinking soon as they all turned around and started walking up to him at the same time.

"Miss your chance to get a ticket, Tiger?" asked Mary Jane noting his glum appearance.

"Isn't it obvious, Mary Jane?" asked Gwen somewhat sarcastically. "Peter's never gone first in line for anything in his life."

"Yeah, even I would go first to buy enough for all of you... if only my dad would share half his inheritance with me!" an insecure Harry promised clenching his manly fists.

Peter almost didn't have to think of a response to all these condescending comments from his best friends of all people. "Well, guys, I mucked up yet again," he ultimately said. "Laugh at me all you want, but I missed the ticket line like I always do."

"Relax, we're not here to put you down. We were just teasing you that's all," said Mary Jane leaning over to put her fingers on his chin. The warmness of her touch was enough to make him giddy.

"Thanks, MJ," Peter smiled. "But I don't think that's gonna help right now. What with-"

"Not to worry," MJ interrupted putting her finger to Peter's mouth. "Fortunately, my waitressing at the Silver Spoon gets me enough tips to buy tickets for just the two of us."

In her hands she held a black and red Hex Girls concert ticket that caused Peter's face to light up in amazement. Never in his young life had he thought anyone, even someone as kind as MJ, would go out of their way to buy him a ticket to somewhere after he missed his chance. Ever so friendly, she handed the ticket to him, himself grasping it firmly as he jumped up in excitement.

"No way! I mean, you really shouldn't have! Thanks, MJ!" he hugged her tightly, spinning her around as her legs popped. The two of them were getting very close and it very much warmed Gwen's heart seeing them this way.

"Don't mention it. I'd say you're pretty fortunate to have those like us around. And don't take it too personal if we tease you like that. Consider it tough love," MJ assured him.

"You had me at 'tough'," Peter responded, giggling. "Besides, I'd never know what to do… without you guys around. Thanks for keeping me in check!"

This comment made MJ smile, showing all her gratitude at once.

"Anything to get you thinking about the best in life, Pete!" Gwen commented, trying not to be sarcastic for a change.

"I second that emotion!" Harry chimed in.

This sort of exchange was pretty typical for Peter and his friends. They generally loved to pick on him, but, at the end of the day, they were still his friends. Knowing what they meant to him on a regular day, he would likely never trade them for the world.

* * *

Elsewhere, in the small town of Coolsville, Ohio, the residents had decorated the place to the max with Hex Girls-related apparel; from darkly colored flowers lining the floral shops to the resident's American flags hanging next to Hex Girls flags, people were going crazy as it was the band's last night in town on their Spring Break tour. Their presence in the city invited massive support due to their renowned status. However, with that much love also came hatred.

The last few days had seen a mysterious, ghostly motorcycle rider sweep the streets with ghostly smoke and bombs in an effort to stop anyone, superfans and the like, from prancing their way to the concerts presumably out of hatred for the band itself. Dubbed the "Road Rager" by many, the man had an appearance similar to that of a comic book supervillain - or antihero for all the comic fans cared. As much a mystery as it was to the town's mayor and sheriff who were too brain-dead to investigate the matter at hand, the stakes were nothing against the likes of Mystery Incorporated - the town's renowned, yet somewhat reviled, mystery-solving super sleuths. They had been on the case since the whole ordeal started and, despite them having school, they managed to excuse themselves early to go track the supposed ghost. In an alleyway, their brightly colored minivan, the "Mystery Machine" sat hidden out of sight while they did their own fieldwork. The van's intellectual computer operator, the brightly dressed, glasses-wearing Velma Dinkley, had been tapping into the location of the Road Rager's motorcycle, tracking him like an eagle to its rodent prey.

"I've got the Road Rager's whereabouts tracked through real time satellite readings. According to this radar I've constructed, the Hex Girls' tour bus is headed this way too. If we can catch the Road Rager, they'll have the safest arrival we can offer," Velma stated as she radioed in the group. She then turned to her redhead pal, Daphne Blake - the team's moral support and main funder - who was wearing a Hex Girls shirt over her all-purple attire consisting also of a green scarf. She had been sitting right outside the van in preparation to act as bait - a role that generally belonged to the group's most clumsy members. "Daphne, be ready to act when he comes!"

"Got it! I hope to remember my lines," Daphne responded, giving a thumbs up to Velma whom she trusted as a friend.

"Trust us when we say you won't get hurt," Velma added reassuringly

With a smile Daphne then proceeded out of the alleyway, stopping next to the team's buff, blonde, slick-haired leader and trap builder, Fred Jones. He was knelt in a position to set off an elaborate trap to catch the ghost with. "Freddy, you promise you won't let me get hurt either?"

As usual, Fred blushed as a result of Daphne talking to him, not knowing half the time what to say to her. "Well, as long as nobody sets off the trap prematurely, it should be fine!" This caused Daphne to become a little disconcerted. She had full on expected a romantic response from Fred - whom she openly admired - but, since he had a hard time expressing his feelings, she faked a smile, deciding to let this one pass for now as she turned to make her way onto the empty street. Fred radioed into the team's biggest amateur and his dog who were stationed atop a nearby two-story building. "Shaggy and Scooby, this is for you," Fred said, causing them to get their heads out of their box of Scooby Snacks and pay attention. "Do not, I repeat, do _not_ set off the trap before I give the signal. Got it?"

In response, "Shaggy" - real name, Norville Rogers - in all his dusty blonde hairiness proceeded to grab his end of the rope with "Scooby" - real name, Scoobert Doo - assisting to give him a little extra muscle since, on their own, they had next to none. "Like, that Road Rager won't know what hit him, Fred! You hear that Scoob?"

"Reah, Raggy!" Scooby exclaimed in his misunderstandable dialect of beginning some words and most names with the letter "R" for some odd reason. "I'll keep a sharp eye out for him!"

"That's my boy, Scoob!" Shaggy said petting his great dane of a dog - without whom he believed he would be nothing. The two were practically inseparable and were part of the reason their gang held together like pieces of paper glued together.

In the distance, the Road Rager's motorcycle came roaring as dark exhaust poured out of it and into the air, nearly masking his flaming, ghoulish figure in mystery. As Daphne got into position, she strutted onto the street, flaunting her fake Hex Girls superfan persona as she tossed her hair around. Despite his need to fixate on traps, Fred was easily breath taken by Daphne's act that he nearly lost focus. "Oh, I can't wait for that Hex Girls concert tonight!" Daphne shouted rather fakely as the Road Rager neared her position. "I'm gonna have so much fun with my friends and we're gonna sing every song we know like the back of our hands! It'll be _such_ a blast!"

Whilst Daphne acted quite well for her fake role, a couple pigeons landed nearby Scooby and Shaggy's position atop the roof to peck at the breadcrumbs from sandwiches they ate earlier. Distracted, Scooby snarled angrily at these strangers of birds and pounced from his position to chase them away.

"Scooby-Doo!" Shaggy shouted desperate for him to come back, but it was too late.

"Now, gang!" Fred shouted, pulling his end of the rope of which he felt no tug at the other end. Without Scooby and Shaggy's support, Fred was left to direct the rope by himself and had nary a clue how to improvise. Thinking smart, he decided to whip it into action and wound up causing Daphne to slip and fall onto the asphalt just as the Road Rager was within range.

"Down with the Hex Girls and their pathetic fans!" the Road Rager's ghostly voice shouted menacingly as his motorcycle was about to run Daphne over. Instinctively, Daphne rolled out of the way, screaming as she thought for a moment he had run her over. Next thing she knew she was still alive and looked up to witness the Road Rager pass her by. "What the-" he exclaimed, confused and unaware that, despite the failed first phase of the trap, he was still riding right into danger. Soon as he turned back to face the road, he realized he was riding right into a standard trap of a net. Before he could apply the break, however, the net wrapped him up with his motorcycle, the tires continuing to roll until they stopped, leaving him to squirm about in the net with no way out.

As Mystery Inc. resigned from their positions, they approached the ghostly rider, relishing their unexpected victory despite the failed trap. "Great job, gang! Another ghost captured!" Fred exclaimed in celebration. "Now, let's see what unoriginal phony decided to terrorize the town today."

Fred pulled off the ghostly rider's fake flaming mask, revealing him as their old, white-bearded school music professor, Charles Lockhand. "Professor Lockhand?!" they all exclaimed in unison.

"The same guy whose been playing us haunting classical tunes in music class!" Velma boasted, knowing her guess was the most correct of them all. "Shocking!"

"Okay, I'll admit it, you kids are very clever to catch me like this," the professor humbly admitted his own defeat.

"And here I thought you were the most musically sensitive man at Coolsville High!" Daphne pointed out, upset that her favorite teacher would terrorize the town like that. "Now why would you do such a thing?!"

"It all started when I planned to host a classical music seminar," Lockhand proceeded to explain. "I sent out invites to everyone in school thinking there would be no other musical event in town to interfere with my own, but then those dreaded Hex Girls announced their arrival in Coolsville the same week I had planned for it to take place. Next thing I noticed, everyone - every music fan and lover - turned down my invitation to attend some silly modern music concert that no one realizes is just as desensitizing as cell phones these days. And so, I felt rejected; like no one would ever appreciate our musical roots in classical tunes. And then, one day, I came across my old motorbike, 'Ms. Priscilla", in my garage. Though she aged horribly into a more ghostly appearance, she worked fine and gave me incentive to hatch a plan to deter everyone away from those stupid Hex Girls. Utilizing my knowledge of special effects from my days in Hollywood, I donned an old mask that gave me the appearance of a ghostly motorcyclist that would disguise my rampages through the city. My intent was not to harm innocent bystanders, but merely discourage them from attending the concert knowing they weren't safe out there."

Lockhand had been talking for such a long time that he barely even noticed the cops had arrived to cut him down and cuff him. "I was about to win everyone back to my musical seminar; show everyone the wonders of our true musical roots instead of that trash you teens call music!" Lockhand continued to rant as he was being shoved toward the police car. "And I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you reckless students of mine and your musically inept canine!"

Finally, the cops got into their car, flashing their red and blue top lights as they drove away the ranting teacher. Staring at their most recent catch being driven away, the Mystery Gang turned to face each other. "Well, as Fred would say, 'another mystery solved'!" Velma said, honoring Fred's traditional catchphrase.

"Thanks, Velma. That really helps after my traps end up not working the way I hoped," Fred commented, giving Shaggy a somewhat demeaning look, the latter of whom seemed shocked.

"Like, sorry, Fred. Scoob here got distracted by pecking pigeons leaving me with, like, little manpower," Shaggy explained.

Scooby hung his head in shame, whimpering. "Sorry, Shaggy," the dog said audibly. "My leftovers were being sabotaged."

"Well, maybe next time we shouldn't eat so much bread when scouting outdoors," Shaggy suggested. It was the least he could do to show he at least knew how to improve his approach.

Upon hearing and accepting his explanation, Fred turned away from them towards Daphne whom he felt sorry for tripping earlier. "Daphne, I'm really sorry I tripped you instead and, in turn, nearly got you killed and-"

Daphne hushed Fred by putting her dainty finger to his lips. "It's nothing you did, Fred. Maybe it's about time our team developed a little more backbone - and had less distractions," she added as she gave the inseparable pair a condescending glance for their incompetence.

"Maybe," he said somewhat in agreement. "But it's not like we can just kick them out. We're all friends here and we stick together until the end no matter what."

"Right. Still…" Daphne trailed off soon as the gang turned to witness yet another scene unfolding before them. A giant, flashy tour bus rolled up beside them, the photos of the Hex Girls pasted on the side filling their view as passersby screamed with excitement over the bands' presence. The bus then screeched to a halt directly in front of them, indicating they were here to see them. From the side door piled out the three members of Hex Girls in their eco-gothic attire to greet their local saviors. Velma's jaw dropped upon their entrance to the scene.

"Hello again, Mystery Inc." stated the band's black-haired with red highlights lead singer and guitarist Sally McKnight, commonly known as "Thorn" amongst her fans. The dress she wore complimented her hair well and really brought out her look into the impending sunset. This wasn't the first time she and the band had a run-in with the gang, especially since they were most frequently attacked by ghoulish figures.

"Great job saving us back there," complimented Dusk, the blonde, pig-tailed, and feisty back-up singer and drummer, who had surprisingly softened up for a change to tell them what a good they did them.

"It was about time someone caught that Road Rager. Our attendees were declining as we knew it, but hopefully tonight's better," said the darker-skinned, red-haired keyboardist, Luna, who, like her colleagues, craved attention and more numbers at their concerts.

"Hey, like, what can we say? It was no big deal!" Shaggy said in an attempt to cover up his clumsiness, which they hadn't noticed yet, but could potentially find out.

"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!" Velma exclaimed, hyperventilating in the presence of her favorite band. Even though she met them several times, seeing them in person still gave her butterflies. "I can't stress enough how great it is to see you again! And, since we saved you for the umpteenth time, you _have_ to let us know what more we can do! Maybe tour with the band? Be with the band? Be _in_ the band?!" She squealed in excitement as Daphne put a hand on her shoulder to cool her down.

"Erm, Velma's a little excited as always," Daphne reiterated. "But if there's anything more we can do just give us a call and let us know." Though Daphne adored the Hex Girls as much as everyone else, she wasn't a superfan like Velma whose room was lined with Hex Girls merchandise from posters to music boxes and spare pencils she kept in case she ran out.

While they were used to Velma acting this way, being in the band still wasn't an option as, like Scooby and Shaggy, the band deemed themselves inseparable for life. And so each member gave it a moment to ponder their options. "Well, you _did_ save our hides yet again. And, catch this, our next stop is New York," explained Thorn. "This town may have its fair share of crooks in masks, but that city's crawling with many more. Mad scientists with electric powers, spider men, you name it. So, if you want, come to New York with us and be our bodyguards."

"That sure sounds like a nice offer, but don't you already have a bodyguard?" Fred added.

"Well, our security guard, Quentin Beck's, got a lot under his belt - both figuratively and literally," Luna explained. "But you guys are the real mystery busters around here. If you can stop road ragers from hurting our fans you can surely stop a scientific freak accident from kidnapping us for experimentation."

"Come on, Fred, _please_ say yes!" Velma butted in, giving him puppy dog eyes he could never resist.

Fred gave Velma a knowing glance in return. "If it wasn't for us having Spring Break, I'd say 'no'. Otherwise, we have school off for this week so… Yes!"

"Yes! Woohoo! Thanks, Fred!" Velma hugged him, popping her leg in appreciation before she backed off, realizing she could potentially make Daphne jealous with that maneuver - Velma had no feelings for Fred after all.

"You hear that, Scoob? Like, she said 'Spider-Men'!" Shaggy leaned in to whisper excitedly to his dog of a best friend.

"You mean like that one song, ' _Spider-Man, Spider-Man. Does whatever a spider can!_ '?" Scooby sang in a relatively off-key tone.

"Yeah, like, I've always dreamed of going to New York to actually, you know, meet the guy," Shaggy said, lost in his own bliss. "Mostly I've done nothing, but idolize him in the comics, cartoons, and whatever else that's Spider-Man out there. Like, if I could, I'd have as much Spidey merch as Velma does Hex Girls stuff."

"Really, Shaggy?" Velma sassed. "A Spider-Man is nothing compared to these… these… musical goddesses! Seriously, you don't know how much you rock!" She said kneeling down as she let out a fangirl scream causing everyone to cringe from her overly excited outburst.

Ignoring her, Fred turned to ask her a question. "When do you girls leave?"

"Tomorrow morning, first thing," said Luna. "New York's a hotspot for bands like us so we ought to show up on time."

"Jinkies!" Velma exclaimed. "We'll all be ready bright and early, won't we gang?"

Behaving silly like they usually do, Scooby and Shaggy thought about the decision for a brief moment. "But, of course!" Shaggy finally said, stumbling somewhat. Saturday was usually sleep in day for him and Scooby, but they could at least try to make an exception.

"In that case, I'll be on it with my best traps in case something goes wrong. But since New York is often protected by big name superheroes, I'm sure there won't be too much trouble!"

"I wouldn't count on that if I were you," Daphne said under her breath, rolling her eyes. Fred always dreamed of the perfect trap and mystery solving case, but it was almost as if he couldn't see the perfection that was her standing right in front of him the whole time. She was, after all the most danger prone of the group and, if she wasn't that enough in Coolsville, surely New York would be no different. Still, as the gang put their hands together to declare undying teamwork, they all remained hopeful that whatever came their way wouldn't put a damper on their team as a whole.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading my first real story chapter. I am hopeful you all will enjoy as the mystery unfolds with Scooby-Doo and Spider-Man crossing paths like never before!**


	2. Tour to Manhattan

The Hex Girls' last night in Coolsville couldn't have been more exciting. The band played everything from oldies to brand new chart toppers while everyone and their brother watched their brilliant spectacle of a show. Flashy lights, mystic smoke, and frequent use of pyrotechnics never failed to appease the audience no matter the crowd. Given the town's limited budget, though, this would be nothing compared to New York - the crowd in Coolsville, while wild, was never known to be anywhere near as crazy as New Yorkers were.

As the gang watched from backstage, they all stood amazed and the band's eco-gothic essence and taste for music they carried with them all these years. Scooby and Shaggy were in such a groove that they couldn't help, but dance. And Fred just stood there as he awed at Daphne's precious singing voice she projected while singing along with them - good news for him, her fake superfan persona wasn't a complete lie. Despite Velma's excessive hype for the band, she stayed backstage and awed the band from a safe distance with the rest of her mystery gang. She wanted to save her steam for the main event in Manhattan after all.

"Thank you, Coolsville, for your dark devotion!" Thorn proclaimed as soon as their last song ended and the stage lights faded out. Even then, the cheering crowd couldn't help but chant for them to do one more song. Because who wouldn't want more from the Hex Girls?

Soon as they entered backstage, the band took in the various compliments and praises from the mystery gang as well as Velma's "overexcited fangirlisms" of which she never hesitated to forward all the oxygen to her brain for. It took Daphne attending to her to get her to calm down.

"All we're trying to say is you totally rocked it and we can't wait to tag along for the tour!" Daphne stated in compliance with their previous deal. She had a feeling there must be something wrong in New York, but she was almost too afraid to convince Fred otherwise.

"Couldn't agree more," a voice said from the corner. It was the Hex Girls official bodyguard, Quentin Beck. With his dark hair, rough chin, and light complexion, he seemed to everyone before he spoke that the gang hardly noticed him.

"And you are…?" a confused Fred questioned the man.

"Only these girls' official bodyguard, Quentin Beck. New York just so happens to be one of my favorite places since these girls always score big there," Beck explained. "And when they score big, so do I!"

"Why should the money matter?" asked Velma concerningly. "I'm just jealous that you get to roll with the band on a more regular basis than I do."

"Because these girls need someone to accompany them. Gotta give them the company they deserve because, before we know it, they might be irrelevant in today's world."

"Savage!" Velma exclaimed. "The Hex Girls will never die out as long as they have fans!"

"I'm sure he's just joking, Velma. Don't worry," Fred said reassuringly to which Velma folded her arms in somewhat of a denial. Fred then turned to face the gang. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd say I'm just as excited about riding in that snazzy tour bus as we all are about traveling in general!"

"Oh, we actually don't have room on the tour bus," Dusk snarked.

"Like, you don't?!" asked Shaggy in somewhat of an alarmed state. He may have loved the Mystery Machine, but what he, Fred, and Scooby wouldn't give to ride first class on the band's tour bus for a change.

"She's just joking," Luna chimed in. "We just figured what with the fan signings taking place tomorrow that we all ought to travel separate. Besides, we all know that Coolsville never gives you guys the attention you deserve so we decided you would give you all your own exclusive signing booth right next to ours."

"Jinkies!" Velma squeaked her usual catchphrase. "So you're saying we'll get to meet our fans from beyond this general area?" Even though she didn't generally care for attention, the idea of their gang receiving a better reputation elsewhere seemed like a welcome change in both reception _and_ scenery for them.

"Of course! We might dig the publicity, but if it means more fans for you bunch, then it's worth a shot," a hopeful Thorn proclaimed. Though her offer wasn't completely selfless, she definitely knew how to pull at Mystery Inc.'s interest after several adventures together. If it wasn't for that fateful day in Oakhaven, they wouldn't know each other like they did.

"And I agree…!" Fred barked as Daphne gave him a look that told him he was being selfish. "That it's worth a shot, I mean. What do you say, gang?"

The rest of them all thought about it for a second, scratching their chins in contemplation. The suspense was high in the few seconds it took for them to process what Fred and the girls were saying. Even if it was just a one-time offer, it seemed to strike appeal to everyone in different ways.

"Well, we don't ever get enough attention around here and catching Manhattan's troublemakers might spread awareness for our cause so, yeah," Daphne hypothesized, perking her shoulders.

"Reah!" Scooby exclaimed. "That means more Scooby Snacks for us!" He licked his dog lips knowing what rewards he would get not only for solving mysteries, but having publicity as well.

"Like, you said it, Scoob!" Shaggy said giving him a high five. Coolsville, while a nice little homey town geographically and aesthetically, didn't always have the brightest of people. For one, the mayor and sheriff were much too focused on themselves and their reputations to really pay any attention and give credit to the likes of Mystery Inc. Many of the citizens backed them on this, though their friends seemed to believe it was cool sometimes. Regardless, everyone seemed to think that meeting potential fans from Manhattan would be a welcome change for all of them. After all, not only were they about to have the ride of their lives, but the idea of their increased publicity was a plus for everyone.

* * *

The gang and band wasted no time getting on the road the next morning. The time read six-forty five a.m. soon as Fred picked up Shaggy and Scooby - the former of whom pretended to wave goodbye to his parents who were sleeping in for the morning - and drove the Mystery Machine to their pre-planned rendezvous point with the Hex Girls' tour bus. It would only be about an eight hour drive and the band had to be on time for their four o'clock (EST) fan signing booths. With as many trips as they had been on before, Fred, Velma, and Daphne knew just how tightly squeezed together they would be in the front seat with Shaggy and Scooby sitting in the back compartment. It was okay, though. They were more than used to it.

It didn't take long for Velma to connect to her sophisticatedly designed travel WiFi to reach the band via video chat on her laptop. Before she knew it, she ignited all the switches before ringing up the Hex Girls on their laptop. _Good thing I encouraged them to install this sophisticated travel WiFi I thought of before we left for today_ , Velma thought proudly of herself. Intrigued by her setup, Daphne leaned in to get herself on screen making silly faces for the moment the Hex Girls would show up. Since they were best friends and all, this made Velma chuckle quite a bit. And then it happened: the Hex Girls' faces flashed onto the screen the moment Daphne made her goofiest face.

"Well, that's one way to be greeted by our biggest supporters," Luna said with a smile on her face.

The girls on both sides of the chat laughed collectively and exchanged pleasantries before moving onto the more important topic of what would happen once they arrived in Manhattan.

"So what's the scoop on our arrival in Manhattan?" asked Velma.

"So long as nothing goes wrong, we have plans to make a show out of our entrance," Thorn explained pleasantly. "Our special effects artist, Daniel Prezette, has installed smoke generators atop our tour bus. Says it'll to make it look more 'mystic' the moment we arrive."

"Always thinking outside the box you girls are!" Daphne complimented.

"Who is this 'Daniel Prezette' you mention?" asked Velma curiously. "Is he with you?"

In that moment, a skinny man with long reddish-blonde hair, a five o'clock shadow, a pair of half glasses, and hippy attire leaned in to sit in between Thorn and Dusk. "Are you kidding? Daniel Prezette just so happens to be the best in special effects for the ages! In other words, me!"

Daphne chuckled at his introduction. He was so full of himself it was actually kind of funny.

"Neat!" exclaimed Velma. "So what is it you'll be doing behind the scenes and all?"

"I'm afraid I can't really disclose that right now what with this WiFi being an unsecured channel and what not, but if you play nicely I may just have to tell you," Daniel boasted. Clearly he was playing hard to get with both of them.

"Like I'd ever tell you why I wear glasses," Velma muttered somewhat under her breath.

"What was that, Velma, my dear?" Prezette followed.

"Oh, uh, nevermind," Velma said nervously, blushing. She searched the inner machinations of her mind to try and find a better something to talk about. "So then, you think the fans will be pleased with your special effects work?"

"If it's what the fans want, it's what they'll fall for," said Prezette with a gleam across his glasses. "And people fall for anyone with such sophisticated inventions in mind." He added being somewhat flirtatious to Velma who seemed to reciprocate through the smile on her face.

"Well, we certainly can't wait to see what they think!" Fred responded. "We'll see you in Manhattan around 3:30!" Their communication shut off, Fred hoping to stay true to his word as long as everyone - Scooby and Shaggy especially - didn't have to take too many food or bathroom breaks.

* * *

At about ten-thirty a.m. sharp, Peter awoke from his late morning sleep inside his nice, cozy bedroom in his little Queens residential home. Morning light casting in through his transparent curtains, he took a breath and sunk deeply into his bed, taking in the coziness that was his soft mattress. He was largely known for sleeping in infamously late on Saturdays (until about noon-thirty even), though something felt different about the day today. It was almost as if Spider Sense had kicked in early to warn him that he had forgotten something and was about to pay the price for such.

Then he heard it; footsteps creeping up the upstairs staircase and turning to head en route down the hallway toward his door. A villain breaking into his home perhaps? He held his breath, hoping to God this wouldn't be the case on a Saturday morning of all days.

"Peter, you awake, dear?" It was the voice of his Aunt May; the most loving and caring soul in all of his teenage existence. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was just his aunt coming in to check on him. Where confusion set in, however, was when he began to ponder why Spider Sense would suddenly register Aunt May as a threat.

He looked down to notice that he had crashed out late last night still wearing his Spider-Man costume. Clearly he had done himself in after a long night of patrolling the streets for some extra thugs to put away. Knowing this would be a dead giveaway to his aunt, he realized Spider Sense had awoken him in the midst of an imminent identity crisis. Soon as he heard Aunt May twist the doorknob, Peter panicked and looked around for the quickest solution possible. Quickly, he threw on the bed covers over his Spider-Man suit just as soon as she opened the door and turned the light on.

An elderly look of concern spread across her face, Aunt May stood in the doorway, cautiously approaching to make whether he was awake or not. "Peter, I know it's early for you but-"

"Aunt May, I'm… not decent!" Peter lied, his heart pounding after fearing his own secret life's safety.

Aunt May backed off. "I'm sorry, dear!" she apologized, falling for his excuse. "It's just I know how much you love to sleep in on Saturday mornings, but I figured I ought to let you know of my whereabouts before I left."

"Your whereabouts?" Peter repeated. "Where are you off to a game of shuffleboard?" Peter added that just to joke about her age and the fact that she was approaching the age of seventy rather soon.

Thankfully, Aunt May giggled at his silly remark. "Oh, Peter. My retirement isn't for another good few years. Anna Watson and I are simply going for a ladies day out in the district! It'll certainly keep us from getting caught up in massive amounts of traffic and throngs of people waiting to see the Hex Girls."

Fortunately for Peter, he just remembered this too.

"Oh, wow, I almost forgot. Harry, Gwen, and MJ were all planning for me to meet them and see the Hex Girls arrive in Manhattan later," he said partially to himself and to Aunt May. "Thanks for the reminder, Aunt May! You and Mrs. Watson have the best day away from us Hex Girls fans!"

"Thanks, Peter!" Aunt May remarked delightfully. "And I mean no hard feelings about staying away from music like that it's just…"

"I know, you don't do so well in crowds," Peter said for her. "Good thing is that MJ has the whole weekend to go find a crowd she can go crazy with."

"I'm only certain she would. You kids have a fun time and stay out of trouble!" Aunt May left him with as she shut the door again. If it weren't for her waking him up, Peter might not have remembered to meet up with his friends for the band's grand entrance downtown. He had already missed the ticket deadline the day before, but then MJ arrived to be _his_ hero for a change and remedy the situation. If he stayed home or fought crime all day, however, he would have to jump through several hoops to get them to like him again - except for MJ since she never seemed to care if he screwed up. Therefore he made a vow to himself that he wasn't about to let them down twice in the same week.

* * *

Once Peter did his homework and went out to patrol the suburbs as Spider-Man, surprisingly little to no crimes were in progress. Based on the masked criminal's claim from the previous day, his guess was that even the criminals who had gotten away with anything were taking a day off in preparation for the band's arrival. And what a relief it was for him.

The time came for him to group up with Harry and the others and ride their way out toward Main Street. As they pulled up to his house in Harry's convertible, MJ and Gwen were completely decked out in Hex Girls apparel. Peter gawked and exchanged greetings with them once he realized they really were the biggest superfans he knew. Once they drove away, MJ could hardly react to Peter placing a hand on her shoulder because she was hyper to the max over the idea of finally meeting her favorite band.

"Oh. My. Gosh! It's finally happening! The day the Hex Girls finally tour to Manhattan and everyone gets to meet them!" MJ squealed like the excited fangirl she was.

"I'm glad you're excited about this band, MJ. But what's the big deal about them anyway?" Peter asked trying his utmost not to sound rude.

Of course, this elicited Gwen to fold her arms and give him "the look".

"They're only the biggest, bestest, most spectacular eco-goth band in the whole country!" Gwen shouted excitedly, Peter believing she was somehow describing his work as Spider-Man too. "Haven't you ever heard their music?!"

Peter shyly thought of the most polite response to a comment like that. "Sorry, girls, but I'm a little behind on my music to really know much about this 'eco-goth' thing you just described," he finally came clean.

"Well then, maybe we can fix that," Gwen added turning to Harry. "Harry, how about you play us some of the Hex Girls' best for Peter?"

"Sure can do, miss!" Harry responded optimistically inserting a Hex Girls CD into the car's radio. From then on until they found a spot to park downtown, the group listened to the best of the best Hex Girls tunes as he dealt with MJ and Gwen - and even Harry some - headbanging and singing along to every song, which there was no denying the girls knew fully by heart. From songs like "Hex Girl" to "Who Do Voodoo", surprisingly enough, Peter found himself enjoying both the music and his friend's passion. Never in his life had he seen anybody, especially music lovers like Gwen and MJ, react so passionately to a different type of music like he did to anything science. Now, if ever asked, Peter would tell anybody that they were the biggest superfans he ever knew - and he wasn't afraid to admit it.

Sooner than later, they pulled into the most convenient parking spot blocks away from the crowd of Hex Girls fans behind barricades. Belongings in hand, they approached the designated area and made a hasty effort to break through the crowd in order to get a good view of where the main attraction would be. After a few minutes of wondering when they would arrive, suddenly the chattering crowd turned into uproars of applause and screaming fangirls welcoming their favorite band's tour bus into the streets of Manhattan for the first time. During this time, purple smoke poured out from atop the tour bus, engulfing the surrounding area in a cloud until everything was virtually mystified. And, of course, Peter and Harry got the biggest taste of MJ and Gwen's over-the-top fangirl screams as they waved their poster board signs reading "H3X G1RL5 4 L1F3" and threw their Hex Girls-themed jewelry out onto the streets where it was then crushed by the tour bus' oncoming wheels. But what did they care? They wanted so badly to finally say they interacted with the Hex Girls soon as they arrived whether it meant destroying their personal belongings.

Never in his life had Peter seen a more insane reaction to the arrival of his friend's favorite band.

Once the Hex Girls' tour bus passed and the violet mist cleared up, there came yet another vehicle in tail: a brightly colored, psychedelic nineteen-sixties hippy van with the words "Mystery Machine" printed on the side. The crowd's reaction to this was rather tame by comparison to the previous arrival and, to his interest, Peter actually knew who this crew was.

"No way!" Peter exclaimed, excited. "Mystery Inc. is here too?!"

Harry turned to his best friend, somewhat confused as to what he was talking about. "Yeah, I guess… Um, who are they again?"

"They're only the best mystery solvers in all of Coolsville!" Peter reacted, sounding like a fanboy all of the sudden. "I've watched many of their vlogs and documentaries showcasing their mystery-solving tactics. I practically study their every move to figure out the most efficient way to solve mysteries!"

"Since when are you into crime solving, Pete?" Harry asked, seeming concerned for his best friend's well-being.

"Um, yeah," Peter said, stopping himself. "About that, I guess I never told you I'm a big fan of mystery movies and such and, well, these guys really bring that aspect to life for me."

"For a second there, I thought you had lost it," Harry responded somewhat sarcastically. "Up until now, I had only heard that they, too, would be present at the signing here in a bit, but-"

"They're signing too?!" Peter asked excitedly, cutting him off. "That's perfect! This could be my chance to finally meet them for myself!"

Right then, Peter followed the crowd as most of them ran along to catch the Hex Girls with a few select others eager to meet Mystery Incorporated as well. Naturally, this made Harry rather off put by Peter; for years he had always been the one closest to his side, guiding him through incident after incident with his dad always neglecting to help him. And now he was the one turning away from him not even demanding he come along to meet his favorite mystery solvers? He always did this at the most inopportune times and he didn't know why, but then again, he was used to it. Trying not to overreact to this, Harry simply shrugged it off and followed his friends through the crowd. Hopefully, this wasn't his best friend's way of saying they were no longer friends in the long run.


	3. Meeting the Mystery Gang

Hours of waiting in line to meet their idols was very much a strenuous task for those who were dying to meet the Hex Girls. For Peter and his gang, however, they remained patient enough for when the building the Hex Girls and Mystery Inc. were in finally came into viewing range. The extended rows of people eventually shrunk enough to where they ultimately entered the building, both booths neatly organized straight of them. Unsurprisingly, the line to meet Mystery Inc. was much shorter though it did at least contain a few enthusiastic fans that came rushing with notebooks ready to sign in hand. When their turn finally came, MJ and Gwen dove for the Hex Girls' booth, albums and posters in hand ready for them to sign as they continued to scream and squeal like the fangirls they were. Once he caught up, Harry joined them as they finally fulfilled their bucket list goal of meeting their favorite band, their booth covered in all kinds of merch available for sale.

Meanwhile, Peter deviated from their craziness to walk over to the booth where Mystery Inc. sat, the booth itself decorated with nothing but a custom banner of their brightly colored logo. Unlike his friends, he was much more calm about this despite the butterflies in his stomach. There they were in the flesh waving at Peter for him to finally meet; Fred Jones in his iconic ascot, Daphne Blake in all her redhead gorgeousness (which definitely rivaled MJ's), Velma Dinkley and her glasses she always lost, "Shaggy" Rogers in his teenage scrawniness, and, of course, Scooby-Doo and his dog… ness - also his wagging tail.

For once in his life, Peter couldn't think of a word to say so he waited for the gang to have first words.

"Bonkers, gang, looks like we have another fan!" Fred announced, trying to invent his own catchphrase. "What's your name?"

It took a moment, but Peter finally spoke above his excited nervousness. "Mystery Inc., the name's Peter Parker," he introduced himself rather formally. "I'm such a big fan!" 

"That's a pleasure to hear!" Daphne remarked in appreciation. "And a pleasure to meet you too!"

"See, gang? We do have some fans!" Velma snarked in response to an earlier comment claiming they don't have enough fans - only about fifty had approached the booth earlier compared to the hundreds of thousands visiting the Hex Girls. "I knew the vlogs would gain us at least some supporters."

"You know, your vlogs are some of the most entertaining mystery-solving videos I've ever seen!" Peter remarked turning to the gang one by one. "Fred, your traps are some of the most elaborate contraptions I've ever seen! And Daphne, you've got a great heart to encourage the team!" Daphne blushed at this remark as Peter turned to Velma. "And Velma, the way you use science to measure and track the patterns of the 'ghosts' you find, it's all great! My favorite was when you measured radio frequencies to catch the radio station ghost, which, of course, turned out not to be a real ghost, but still, props to you for turning to science!"

"About time someone appreciated my use of gizmos and gadgets," Velma muttered to herself. "Thanks for noticing my technical prowess, um…" she trailed off, forgetting his name already. "What was your name again?"

"Peter," he helped her.

"Right. I just never imagined that anybody would be so fascinated with the science aspect of our mysteries we solve."

"Well, as long as it works out in the end, you should keep at it!" They smiled at each other before Peter turned to face Scooby and Shaggy. "And, of course, there's Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. You all are hilarious."

"Like, ya hear that Scoob? He thinks we're funny!" Shaggy turned and giggled to his canine companion.

"Reah! We should be comedians!" Scooby suggested. "Introducing comedian duo, Raggy Rogers and the Spectacular Scooby-Dooby-Doo!"

Upon listening to Shaggy's interesting choice of vocabulary and grammar and Scooby's misconstrued speech patterns, Peter looked rather surprised. He had only ever heard a few words Shaggy uttered due to the vlogs mostly focusing on Velma's actions. Meanwhile, Scooby was rather camera shy and never made more than a few sounds on film. "Whoa, wait a minute! Scooby-Doo talks?! Like, this isn't anything like I remember from your videos!"

During the whole previous exchange, however, Fred had been spacing off, thinking of nothing but his traps and their various designs. "Um, what's that? I lost you at traps," he snapped back into reality.

"Um, yeah. Our vlogs don't exactly depict everything about us 100%," Velma explained. "We don't withhold anything intentionally for publicity standards rather what goes on behind the camera just doesn't always pertain to reality."

Although he looked rather puzzled, Peter smirked a smile. "I mean, yeah, such is life when you're vlogging," Peter empathized with Velma. "But if you guys get to talk to your dog off camera, then I think that's even better!"

"We like to think of it as the one aspect of reality we shouldn't question," Daphne commented. "It's more fun that way really."

"So is having your pretty face around Manhattan if I do say so myself," Peter complimented. Daphne smiled dreamily at Peter's comment, displaying perfect appreciation all at once.

Fred, on the other hand, seemed confused as to what she was feeling for him. Oh no. Does she like him all of the sudden? They only just met! he thought to himself. Deep down, he knew he liked Daphne, though, for some reason, he just wasn't ready to tell anyone, especially not Daphne herself. For all he knew, his chances could have been slipping at any moment.

Just then, Peter spoke up again. "Anyways, this may seem a little forward, but you gotta show me everything there is to know about solving mysteries," Peter explained, pausing to think of a good excuse. Secretly, he wanted to learn more on how to solve mysteries undercover as Spider-Man, but knowing what danger it could potentially put him in, he knew to withhold this information from his idols. "I'm looking for, uh… to take some notes for science class on… the science of mystery solving. No pressure if you can't, but, hey, you know… sometimes… you gotta take field notes for… science."

Peter's trailing off made the gang slightly uncomfortable, but Velma seemed open to Peter with his mention of field notes for science. Jinkies, if he has an intellect close to my own, he might just be what this team deserves, she thought neutrally about the possibility of him joining the team. For a moment, the gang was a little put off by his open suggestion. As if the Hex Girls weren't already recommending them to help enough, this was a really big request they weren't fully ready to answer yet.

Finally, Fred opened his mouth. "As gang leader, I say we're gonna have to discuss this as a team so hold that thought." The gang then turned toward each other, huddling in a circle so that Peter couldn't hear their discussion.

"Okay, gang, not that I'm opposed to the idea of a sixth member, but this is a lot don't you think? Between the Hex Girls' bodyguard position now this?" Fred whispered. "I don't know if we're ready for this yet."

"Come on, Fred, what could possibly go wrong?" Daphne assured him. "He likes our team and, while we're at it, a new sixth member could possibly wipe our memories of our previous sixth member."

Of course, Fred knew who she was speaking of and lowered his eyelids in annoyance. "Daph, remember, we don't speak of Scrappy-Doo anymore. So let's forget we ever said anything and think about the now," he told her directly.

"Right," she submitted. "Also what was with the 'bonkers' thing earlier?"

"I'm experimenting with catchphrases like you guys all have. What do you think?"

"It could use some work, but it's a start," she told him rather kindly.

"Right, back to the drawing board then," he told himself before turning back to everyone else. "Now then, how else do you all think we can manage this? Any takers on if or how we should invite him to the team?"

"Simple," Velma chimed in. "He needs it for science class, so I say we let him on as an intern to observe us. Maybe, should he display enough characteristics of a good mystery solver in the meanwhile, then we could think about including him as the sixth member."

Fred put a finger to his chin, apparently keen on the whole idea. "A neat solution, but-"

"But, like, he's awesome and thinks we're funny. I mean he likes us for our humor just as we love Spider-Man. He's totally a good fit!" Shaggy interrupted, letting his inner Spidey fanboy loose.

"If he likes us the way Raggy and I get along, then I agree!" Scooby added with his signature giggle.

Velma gave them a squint of annoyance. "Who asked you two?" she sassed. "This is a business meeting not a circle of prospective friends."

"Now, now, Velma, let's not fight amongst each other," Fred continued. "Anyway, if there will be no more interruptions, how many are in on Velma's internship idea? Simply nod your head."

Everyone, but Fred nodded, smiling. Feeling outvoted, Fred slumped, feeling like this would only add another weight for them to keep track of on their trip. In addition to managing the Hex Girls and keeping a sharp eye out for any masked troublemakers, it seemed like this would only slow them down on both fronts. Additionally, he was almost jealous of the reaction Daphne had to compliment from him. He couldn't help but wonder whether this was another romantic mishap waiting to happen. "Fine, but as long as he doesn't interfere with our work…" Fred trailed off leaving them to fill in the blanks.

The rest of the team gave their quiet remarks before dispersing to turn back to Peter.

"Well, Peter, we've reached a collective decision and decided you can tag along with us as an intern," Fred explained. "Since we know you need field notes and all, we figured it was the least we could do."

"...Wow," Peter was left nearly speechless. "You… You don't know how much this means to me. I don't even know what to say! Thanks!" He chortled in his joy. "So, um, when do I start?"

"You can come with us the Hex Girls' concert tomorrow," Velma revealed rather confidently. "We're their personal bodyguards for the tour so we'll be backstage most of the time."

"I'd love to, guys, but I promised my friends I'd go with them," he said pointing to his friends at the Hex Girls booth, among which MJ was demonstrating her angelic singing skills to the band so much that she held up the line. "They're my best friends after all and they get upset if I let them down too much. So maybe another time before Spring Break's over?"

"That could work!" Daphne responded enthusiastically. "The Hex Girls don't leave until the end of the week so we should have plenty of time!"

"Well, in that case, might as well leave you my contact info in case of emergency, am I right?" he said with a chuckle.

"Sure!" stirred Velma excitedly.

And with that, Peter took out a piece of paper from his backpack, writing down his name, phone number, and address for future reference. It seemed a bit much, but at least none of it gave away his secret identity. Soon after handing it off to them, he heard a familiar voice amongst the chattering crowd stroll up beside him.

"Hey there, Tiger!" It was the unmistakable, soothing vibration of MJs voice clad in her Hex Girls attire with Harry and Gwen in tail. "Hanging out with Mystery Inc. I see?"

"I mean, yeah, MJ! Who could miss 'em?" he proclaimed excitedly. He turned to the mystery gang to introduce his friends. "Mystery Inc. these are my friends, Mary Jane, Harry, and Gwen. MJ, Harry, and Gwen, meet Mystery Inc."

He introduced them one by one, each of them having a variety of reactions to the other's presence.

"Pleased to meet you, Daphne. It's nice to see another redhead around these parts," Ms. Watson said introducing herself to Ms. Blake.

"I know, it seems like we're almost extinct these days. If only somebody could appreciate us more," she remarked turning to Fred at the last sentence.

To Fred, it seemed like she was being rather hypocritical. "Don't worry. The good thing is that you exist and that makes quite a difference in the life of this young trap builder."

Daphne could see it is Fred's eyes. That comment was directed solely at MJ who smiled in response to the buff young man's compliment. Or maybe she misinterpreted it. Whatever it was, she let it slide like the last time he failed to compliment her properly.

"Your friend Peter seems like quite the science buff," Velma told Gwen based on previous observations. "Says he's taking field notes for class on the virtues of mystery solving."

"That's funny, 'cause I love science too!" Gwen perked outwardly. "I mean, the Hex Girls' music doesn't have much to do with science, but their speaker frequencies, instrument sound waves, and vocal vibration rates are just a dream to my ears!"

"I know, right? The kinetic energy they produce in my elevated state of excitement around them is off the charts!" Velma explained in an effort to combine her mutual love for science with her love for the Hex Girls.

"Ohmygosh, me too! I've been listening to them non-stop this last week, tumbling around my room so much that the concrete foundation in my basement floor might as well be unstable!" Gwen told her, excited to find somebody who seemed to be her equal on all fronts.

"What is this madness?! Science rules!" Velma shouted.

"And so do the Hex Girls!" Gwen grabbed her hands as Velma reciprocated.

The two screamed in unison, believing they had found an identical personality twin for each other.

"Like, you say he's rich?" Shaggy asked Peter regarding his best friend, Harry. "Like, I bet he could buy us all the food in the world! And, if that's not enough, maybe find us some security to keep us safe from the monsters who always chase us."

Peter chuckled at his remark. "That would definitely be a dream come true for you guys!" He peered over at Harry who stood aside, arms folded as he remained uninterested in the conversation. "What I personally wouldn't give to share the luxuries that my best friend has with his dad being a multi-billionaire scientist and all."

"They're not luxuries, Pete," Harry finally spoke up, ignoring the mystery gang. "He never shares any of them with me, nor does he even care to share quality time with me."

His last statement turned passive-aggressive rather quickly. In an effort to keep tension from entering the atmosphere, Peter ignored him and turned back to his newfound interners. "I should probably have you guys sign something before I forget. I mean it's why you have the booth in the first place!"

"Reah, Reter!" Scooby remarked. "Say, you have any Scooby Snacks?" 

"Sorry, I wish they sold boxes here like you guys carry all the time," Peter told him, making no promises about potential merchandise in the future. "If nothing else, keep solving mysteries and putting yourselves out there and maybe you'll have a big enough following in no time."

"Rank rou!" Scooby thanked his gang's newfound internee.

"Uh, what did he say?" Peter asked removing a notebook from his backpack.

"Like, I think he said 'thank you', man!" Shaggy explained. "Sorry, Scoob here tends to speak with an interesting dog dialect that mostly we can understand. Like, don't feel bad if you can't quite understand him at first."

"Well, sure then," Peter said, nearly disconcerted by how many times Shaggy misused the word 'like' in a sentence. He and Scooby were, by far, the weirdest of the gang, but it didn't bother him so much. The concept of being a spider-themed superhero fighting bad guys in mostly animal-themed costumes was already weird enough to him that he could handle it. "Would you please sign my notebook?"

"Like, sure, man!" Shaggy agreed.

Doing his best to remember cursive, Shaggy signed first, followed by Scooby who could barely hold a pencil and write legibly with the pencil in his mouth. After several mishaps with the pencil sliding off the page, Scooby ultimately decided to scribble something that coincidentally resembled a dog paw, which Peter thought was worth it enough to show his friends. The rest of the gang from Fred, Daphne, and Velma signed the page rather smoothly and elegantly before they gladly handed the notebook back to him.

"Thanks again, guys, for letting me observe the team!" Peter thanked his idols. "I look full forward to observing your next big adventure!"

"Don't mention it, Peter!" Fred waved him farewell for now. "Have a good day and a great time with your friends at the concert!"

As Peter, MJ, and Harry were leaving, Gwen had just finished her conversational bond with Velma.

"Video chat me later?" Gwen asked, looking forward to further communication with an equally intelligent nerd girl like herself.

"Boy, would I! If we happen to get enough time in between shifts with the Hex Girls I just may say 'hi' again before the end of the week," Velma assured her new best friend.

"Sounds perfect. See ya!" Gwen waved goodbye to her new video chat mate before running to catch up with her posse. Together they worked their way passed the crowd and exited the building.

Once they left, Peter was the first to speak amongst his friends, hoping they weren't jealous of him for making new ones. "So… what'd you guys think of Mystery Inc.? Cool folks?"

"You never told us you were into mystery-solving, Pete, much less watching a group with a smart girl who shares my interests," Gwen pointed out somewhat condescendingly, but with a whiff of appreciation. "I'll say meeting them was a nice surprise!"

"I agree," MJ added. "The redheaded girl was an exciting find. And Fred seemed like a nice guy. Who could turn him down?"

"You seemed to forget Daphne's name there," Peter noted concerningly. "Is everything okay?" He tried not to sound too upset in case she was somehow falling for Fred instead.

"Nothing to report, Tiger," MJ told him, laying a hand on his shoulder. Good news was she used his nickname properly so that could mean nothing changed in that short time span.

Peter then turned to Harry. "What about you, Harr?"

The Osborn boy had been turned away for most of the conversation, seemingly resentful of Peter making new friends. "Oh, I'm fine. Except that you left me in the crowd with almost no incentive to drag me along!"

Harry raising his voice really startled Peter there. "Sorry, Harry, I really needed to keep up with the crowd," Peter explained, trying not to make him jealous. He wouldn't betray his best friends after all.

"Oh, yeah, well…" Harry seemed to run out of words to speak. "Nothing. I'm sorry. Guess I overreacted. I just…" he sighed. "Maybe I'm just tired. No worries, Pete."

A hasty attempt to cover up his jealousy, indeed. Peter never meant to let his friend down again, but the good news was his best gal pal found a new gal pal in the form of the brains of Mystery Inc. Still, he wondered what would become of his and MJ's relationship if Fred was in the picture. And what if he, once again, got caught turning down his old friends for a new mystery case, but with Mystery Inc. instead. Peter had been so caught up in the bliss of meeting his favorite mystery group that he didn't take the time to fully think about how everyone would feel or react. Even so, he hoped that, somehow, it would all work out, no matter the result of the impending concert taking place the next day.

And that, folks, is how I imagine Peter and friends would meet Mystery Inc. My favorite chapter to write so far. Look forward to more soon!


	4. The Menace of Mysterio

**Author's Note:** _Hello, again everyone who's been reading this far. I see you've gotten to the point where the two worlds meet, which, in my opinion, was the most interesting part to write. This note won't be too long, though I figure I ought to keep you all updated every few chapters. For this chapter, let's just say it's where the title of the story comes into play. Read on to find out more and enjoy it, readers!_

* * *

From the moment the concert commenced the following night at NYC Arena, the Hex Girls fans were finally awaiting their chance to go nuts upon entering the arena. Once most of the patrons gathered, lights faded out and the electric guitar hummed from the darkness followed by the neon concert lights panning around the room and the pyrotechnics shooting up from the edges of the stage. Revealed in all this light was the Hex Girls on stage in their signature witch-based getup with fake fangs that gave them the appearance of witch-vampire hybrids. The band struck a photo-worthy pose as Thorn played the opening chords and sang the lyrics of their biggest musical identifier "Hex Girl". In response to their awesome vocals and sparkly, purple smoke pouring from the stage simultaneously, the crowd larger than Coolsville went haywire in an uproar of shouts, cheers, and whistles. From where Peter and Harry stood, the best friends watched as MJ and Gwen unleashed their inner fangirl furies, screaming as if about to be devoured by monsters. As they rolled around on the floor, air guitaring like crazy, Peter thought no doubt they would need medical attention before the end of the night.

"You sure they're not gonna hurt themselves?!" Harry screamed over the booming concert speakers.

"I don't know! Maybe with enough persuasion from us, they'll be able to practice restraint!" Peter shouted back, hopeful he wouldn't have to worry about any dire situations for a change.

"Well, better get on it soon or they might pop some vessels!" Harry suggested loudly.

"Better wait 'til they're ready! By the looks of it, they're not!" Peter yelled, noticing the two of them crowd surfing, exhausting their lungs and arms as they swung them violently to the music. He hoped that by the end of the night they wouldn't suffer broken bones or anything of the like in the brewing mosh pit. This was, after all, the one time he finally managed to make on time it to a major event with his best friends - and MJ's ticket served him well too. Most of the time he managed to either let them down or upset them by attending to Spider-Man or photography business and getting caught up in the bliss of either one. This time, however, so far, so good; he was present at the event and nothing bad had come crashing in on the place just yet.

Hopefully, it would stay that way.

* * *

"See, gang? Nothing's happening. No ghosts, no ghoulish costumes, nothing. Just some lights, smoke, and the Hex Girls rocking out!" Fred noted boastfully, referring to earlier when he assured them not to worry.

Daphne rolled her eyes, though, thankfully, Fred was too distracted to notice. She was still rather cautious about the possibility of something swooping in and attacking the concert while Fred didn't have a care in the world - aside from his traps that is. In addition, she became rather suspicious of whether that Mary Jane girl from the other day had captured his attention. As if she couldn't get him to notice her enough, trapping bad guys was the least of her worries, but she wouldn't let that ruin the night. "Betcha Velma would dig the crowd surfing right now!" Daphne finally shouted, noting Velma bouncing her head hard to the music.

"Woohoo! Rock on, Hex Girls!" Velma shouted passionately, barely noticing Scooby and Shaggy dancing along as if being controlled by the music. Backstage couldn't have been a more perfect view for all of them.

Strangely enough, they were the only bodyguards in sight. Nobody had seen Quentin Beck all day meaning that Mystery Inc. had been left to essentially take his shift of guarding the band while they prepared for the concert. Even so, in the bliss of the moment, nothing else seemed to matter.

* * *

As the Hex Girls rolled out the last few notes of their opening song, suddenly another whiff of purple smoke appeared at the front of the stage's walkway, engulfing the band in a mysterious mist. From the mist rose a figure with a round head, broad stature, and caped figure silhouetted in mystery. The audience wowed until they fell silent, thinking this was apart of the show.

"Greetings, New York!" the figure addressed the crowd in his Latin accent as the smoke cleared up. "I am Mysterio! Here to save humanity from the brainwashings caused by live music!" Slowly, but surely, his silver fishbowl-shaped head, green jumpsuit, and purple cape became more apparent, causing everyone to question whether he was meant to fit in with the Hex Girls or not.

Upon noticing his getup, Peter's eyes widened; almost instantly, he recognized this as an old Spider-Man foe whose identity and tricks were so mysterious, he hadn't even come close to figuring out who he was. Regardless, he knew, without a doubt, that he was serious business. Not caring to even turning to talk to his friends and/or make up an excuse to leave the scene, Peter fled, butting his way through the crowd with a twinge of remorse for leaving so soon. As much as he didn't want to do this, he could not and would not, under any circumstances, leave any citizens, his friends, or their favorite band in the hands of the menace of Mysterio. Without a choice, he made his way past the crowd and out of the room until he was out of sight.

The crowd, on the other hand, had mixed reactions.

"What's with the fish bowl? Are the Hex Girls into aliens now?" a high school aged goth girl noted.

"Is this part of the show?" asked a ghetto hipster dude. "This is totally radical!"

"Get off the stage, you Latin theater freak!" shouted an older jock guy as an insult to his intelligence.

"Silence, you fiends!" Mysterio's voice boomed without use of a microphone. "The Hex Girls are a nuisance to this world and for that their sound must be silenced!"

Mysterio turned to face the back of the stage and spread his arms, clenching his hands into a half fist. By the powers of some unseen magical force, he apparently tore down the stacks of three speakers sitting at either end of the stage. The crowd gasped and screamed as Thorn happened to be standing right near where the speakers were falling. In an effort to save her prized possession of a guitar and herself, she threw it off and attempted to run out of the way, but her heels caused her trip and fall soon as the speakers made impact with the floor. Fearing for their lives, the crowd screamed and scattered as, by the looks of it, Mysterio was no concert act; he was a menace to the Hex Girls.

* * *

From backstage the gang watched in horror as their favorite band, the band they were told to protect, was under attack by a mysterious magician-like figure and they were left unprepared because Fred told them not to worry.

"The Hex Girls are under attack! What should we do?!" Daphne demanded an answer.

"I'll have to quick set a trap!" Fred immediately stepped in to recommend.

"And waste time setting it up enough for them to get hurt and possibly killed?" Velma questioned. "You should've been more prepared for this, Mr. Trap of the Week!"

Fred almost didn't want to answer as she guilted him for not wanting to worry about a thing. This wouldn't have really been his fault since they had no idea who would possibly show up to begin with. Only then would Fred be able to design a trap based around the guy's abilities, the current one of which was a real mystery given his name and lack of identity.

* * *

"Hey, magician!" Dusk jumped up from her drums, sticks in hand. "Leave my friends alone!"

Dusk twirled her drumstick and threw it straight for Mysterio's helmet. Unfortunately, Mysterio seemed to possess telekinetic powers and managed to blow it out the way without touching it.

"You dare call Mysterio a magician?!" the wizard questioned her choice of vocabulary. "Such a fool! Mysterio is no illusionist playing parlor tricks! Mysterio is a masterful wizard master from the Arcane Dimension!" he boomed as he apparently summoned a green cloud that shot lightning directly at Dusk. In a split second she dove behind her instrument, the drums shattering in front of her as she covered her face. By curling up into the fetal position, she emerged from the wreckage unharmed - the only thing she had left was her last drumstick.

"All of you should cease to exist as, before you know it, your music will lead the world to its ruin!" Mysterio taunted the band, directing his lightning surge toward Luna and the wires scattered around her keyboard. With so much plugged into her instrument, the electricity caused a spark that caused her to jump down to the floor before she would have been electrocuted. Meanwhile, some crowd members stayed behind and watched in horror as their favorite band was being attacked, wondering what they could do to help.

"It's time to end this!" Mysterio announced, raising a fist as if about ready to summon another power.

"Hey, bubble brain!" a wisecracking voice called out from the background. Next thing Mysterio knew, a strand of spider-like webs attached to his hand, rendering him unable to launch another attack. He looked over to see who his mysterious attacker was; it was his old nemesis, Spider-Man, sticking to the wall beside him in a spider-like fashion. "Stop hexing the Hex Girls! They might put a spell on their listeners, but I don't see them attacking anyone out of jealousy or... whatever beef it is you have with them!"

"Spider-Man!" exclaimed Mysterio. "Have you come in devotion to these meaningless talents of a musical ensemble?"

"I was trying to enjoy the concert when you showed up going all 'Arcane god' on them again! Why not be apart of the show? You'd fit right in with the motif!" Spidey quipped, the Hex Girls appreciative of his compliment.

"Fool! You have no idea what more Mysterio is capable of! Certainly more than a few incompetent musical numbers for one!" Mysterio fired back, furious that Spider-Man would insult him like that.

"I don't think I even wanna know! I don't even know who you really are for crying out loud!" Spidey shrugged when all of the sudden, Mysterio's fist glowed a bright purple, signaling Spidey for an incoming attack. Instinctively, Spidey hopped off the wall and shot a web, swinging around in a circle, dodging Mysterio's attacks as the wizard continued to fire upon him. The projectiles were so numerous he almost couldn't find an opening choosing instead to swing around, dodge, and improvise. In an effort to plunge his way through the comet-like projectiles, which struck the ceiling and walls around him, Spidey swung straight for Mysterio in an effort to deliver a kick to his glass helmet. Much unexpectedly, Mysterio vanished into thin air as Spidey landed where he disappeared.

"Disappearing act? Seriously?! You _gotta_ think of something new!" Spidey remarked, annoyed when, all of the sudden, a violet flaming fist emerged from the ground, uppercutting Spidey in the chin sending him flying to the end of the stage's walkway. From where Spidey lied, dazed ever so slightly, Mysterio reappeared over him in physical form.

"Such a nonbeliever to think that this bunch is the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread," Mysterio goaded. "Soon, I will open your eyes and make you see!"

In a huff of fury, Mysterio folded his cape around his helmet face and swiped it horizontally, producing a bright purple shockwave that destroyed the remaining Hex Girls' instruments and equipment and knocked them back onto the floor.

* * *

From where they stood, the gang witnessed the backstage curtain collapsing nearby. If they didn't move quick enough, they would most certainly be crushed.

"Quick, gang! Let's move before that wizard does any more damage!" Fred barked in an effort to get everyone to move.

"Like, I think that's a great idea! Run!" Shaggy shrieked, fearing for his life.

One by one, the gang piled out from behind the stage and onto the main stage. Thankfully, the collapsed speakers concealed their appearance from Mysterio as they made their escape around it. Velma started the line that made its way off the stage followed by Shaggy and his loyal dog companion. Almost too afraid to step down in her high heels, Daphne felt reassured when Fred in front of her reached out his hand to give her a stepping stone of sorts. They barely noticed Spidey charging Mysterio when a barrage of his attacks caused the place to rumble to where Daphne nearly stumbled off the stage. Luckily, Fred managed to catch her in his broad arms and hoisted her up until they met eye-to-eye.

"Let's go!" Fred spouted. Another missed opportunity for a romantic moment between the two as Fred took her hand and led her out of there.

* * *

"I gotta get the Hex Girls out of danger before Mysterio brings down the place!" Spidey spoke to himself as he continued to face Mysterio. Right then, Mysterio raised a hand that seemingly caused the stage lights to malfunction and burst from their hanging spots on the ceiling rod. The rod of stage lights fell down toward where the Hex Girls lay nearly unconscious forcing Spidey to quick take note of his next maneuver. Thinking smart, he webbed Mysterio in the face and took off on a webline, swinging up toward the ceiling and jettisoning a web net that allowed the debris to pass around Thorn as she lay nearly helpless. In one swift movement, Spidey then scooped her up, brought her off the stage, and stood her up as she regained full consciousness.

"You okay?" Spidey asked of concern as the crowd continued to scatter.

"I'm fine," Thorn regained consciousness. "But… my bandmates!"

Spidey quick turned to notice Mysterio charging up yet another storm cloud attack. No time to compliment Thorn or ask for her autograph, Spidey attached yet another webline onto Mysterio's form, propelling himself toward the wizard as he kicked him off stage. Spidey then shot out two weblines that brought the remaining two Hex Girls toward him, extracting them both and setting them aside next to Thorn.

"Hey, guys! I know we just met, but, hi I'm Spider-Man, and you might wanna get out of here with the rest of your fans before Mr. Wizard Man brings down the place!" Spidey told the band awkwardly to which they nodded and ran for their lives in unison along with their fanbase. Despite their escape, Spidey turned to witness Mysterio standing once more before him, cape wrapped around his body, despite not succeeding in his apparent goal.

"You think you're so clever, boy!" Mysterio taunted. "Just you wait and see what more tricks I have up my sleeve!" With that, Mysterio threw open his cape and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke as Spidey charged at him. Just before he could connect his punch soon, he arrived where his foe once stood as the wizard had warped away in a cloud of smoke. Spider Sense then rang, alerting him to Mysterio reforming within the scattering crowd on the opposite side of the arena.

"Catch me if you can, Spider-Man!" Mysterio whirled up yet another cloud of smoke.

Not willing to fall for his tricks, Spidey tried to Web Rush Mysterio multiple times, pulling the same trick each time before his cloud of smoke ultimately evaporated. With his disappearance also came the rupturing of the sound podium in the middle of the arena.

* * *

Fred and Daphne tried to outrun Mysterio's getaway, remaining unaffected by the smoke clouding the area and swatted it away rapidly in order to see their escape route better. Just when they believed themselves to be in the clear, Daphne tripped on a loose wire in the middle of the floor, incidentally letting go of Fred's hand and yelping as she fell down.

"Daphne!" Fred shouted as he reached back toward her. The crowd criss crossing in front of Fred prevented him from going back for Daphne when he noticed the metal scraping of the sound podium in the middle of the room. The occupants evacuated, the podium began to fall down straight down toward where Daphne lay, unable to get back up due to the chaos happening around her. "No! Look out!" Fred tried to warn her to no avail.

Just when Daphne thought she was done for, the red and blue wonder that was Spider-Man swooped in and picked her up at the last second before the podium would have crushed her. Her eyes closed from anticipating her impending fate, Daphne opened them to find herself in Spider-Man's arms, the Web-slinger swinging her heroically around the place. His immediate appearance made her heart sing more than Fred ever had knowing that he saved her as her red hair blew around with his movements. This couldn't have been a more daring rescue for Daphne in this life-threatening situation. The two of them then flew for the exit along with the rest of Mystery Inc. and the remaining crowd who stuck around for most of the incident.

"Let's blow this place before any more goons show up!" Spidey suggested as he handled them out the door.

* * *

The cops and paramedics arrived at the scene to search for the suspect and recover any injured patrons respectively. Aside from the destruction he caused, Mysterio had vanished without a trace, leaving no signs of his true physical form. Surprisingly, nobody was injured in the event of Mysterio's appearance and disappearance. A lucky incident as Spidey would say.

Spidey himself stood across the street from the Arena with Mystery Inc., the police having barricaded the scene during the destruction.

"I can't believe this wizard guy whom we've never met would have the guts to bring down the house on the Hex Girls," Velma stated. "Looks like there's a mystery to solve here after all." Her last sentence was specifically directed at Fred since it was originally his line and he was the one who disregarded the possibility of such happening.

"Yeah, well, the important thing is that we all got out okay," Spidey said optimistically. "The band's safe and everything!"

Personally, Spidey was hopeful everyone else - his friends and the mystery gang - were okay too. Looking over at Daphne, he observed her closely for any signs of shock or injury as a result of tripping - that and she was too attractive to look away from. Based on the fact that she was standing up straight and breathing, she seemed fine in spite of tripping; she wasn't weak kneed or anything. Still, due to her physical appearance, Spidey felt compelled to speak to her from behind his mask. "You okay, Ms…?" he trailed off, pretending not to know her name for the sake of concealing his identity.

"Daphne," she responded, her cheeks rosy red from his daring save. "Thanks for saving me back there. You're a real hero!"

"Daphne… Cool! You're most certainly welcome," Spidey faked somewhat before turning to the gang. "You guys seem like a brightly colored bunch of characters. Is this the famed Mystery Inc. I'm speaking to?"

"It sure is!" Fred responded. "We're here straight from Coolsville on a mission to protect the Hex Girls."

"It certainly was going well… until that mystery freak showed up and nearly trashed the place," Velma noted, folding her arms in annoyance over the situation.

"Tell me about it. We've been going at it for a while now and I still don't even know who he is," Spidey informed them, upset that he hadn't even come close yet.

Shaggy and Scooby were all jittery inside from their idol standing right in front of them. With a giggle, Shaggy spoke to him for the first time. "Like, that's your old foe, Mysterio, isn't it? Like, if my comic book knowledge is correct, he appeared first in issue thirteen of your vintage series."

"Those good old comics," Spidey said, seeming to admire his apparent "fanboyness" from behind the mask. "Say, how would you feel about this signed card, courtesy of Yours Truly?" Reaching into his suit pocket, Spidey handed him a white card reading "Courtesy of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" his name signed in cursive.

Shaggy immediately yanked the card out of his gloved hand, his excitement through the roof as he bounced and laughed with joy knowing he had acquired a piece of memorabilia directly from his superhero idol. "Like, we just hit the jackpot of all fanboy items, Scoob! A signature from the person himself!"

"At long last, Scooby-Doo meets Spider-Man!" Scooby proclaimed before turning to face his hero. "Rank rou for saving the Hex Girls, Spider-Man!"

"No problem… Scooby-Doo!" Spidey hesitated as if just learning his name for the first time. "You guys are the bodyguards after all so I may as well make your job easy!"

"Well, in that case, why not join our team and hunt him down?" Daphne suggested. "Our group specializes in unearthing mysteries that involve unmasking ghoulish goons everywhere."

"Daph, don't we already have another-?" Fred started then stopped when he saw Daphne put her hands on her hips, her expression noticeably upset. "Fine, but maybe just for a day," he turned to face Spider-Man. "You seem to know this Mysterio quite well. Got a lead on where his location could be?"

"How should I know? He's the one who disappeared," Spidey pointed out. "I still haven't even unmasked him myself. But if we find a time to split up and look for clues, maybe we'll get a better lead on not where he is, but who he is."

"You hear that, gang? It's almost like he gets our routine!" Fred pointed at Spider-Man, seemingly warming up to him after an initial distaste. "We'll likely investigate the scene tomorrow. We usually wait until the danger's clear to start looking for clues."

"Fair strategy," Spidey commended them. "Mysterio could likely strike back at any moment. Best wait until the threat isn't so fresh until we investigate the matter at hand."

"Scientifically speaking, I hope your skills are sufficient. Ethically speaking, though, I like the way you think, Spider-Man!" Velma complimented the Web-head, showing some positivity for a change.

"Reah! Rank rou for joining us." Scooby complimented his hero. Suddenly, his stomach began to rumble, signifying a void in his stomach that needed to be filled. "I'm hungry. You have any Scooby Snacks?"

"Sorry, dog, wish I knew where to get some!" Spidey responded.

Shaggy's stomach began to do the same, telling him it was time to fill his food tube post-crisis. "Like, I second that, Scoob. All that chaos and running away got me hungry."

Still very much annoyed with Shaggy's overuse and misuse of the word, "like", Spidey turned to the rest of Mystery Inc. "Somebody might want to feed the talking dog and his slob of an owner. In the meantime, get some rest. We'll need it for the big investigation tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan, Spider-Man!" Fred said reaching into his wallet for a makeshift business card he made in case something like this happened. "Here's our contact info if you want to join up tomorrow. That's, uh, my cell number, signed by Yours Truly."

Spidey read the card with Fred's number and name on it:

Frederick Jones  
Mystery Incorporated  
555-4321

"Thanks, uh, Frederick-"

"Just 'Fred' is fine," Fred corrected him. "And where are my manners? This is our main funder, Daphne, our tech expert, Velma, our bait, Shaggy, and our company mascot, Scooby-Doo!" Each of them waved at Spidey one by one as Fred introduced them.

"Pleased to meet you all!" Spidey waved around the area. "Now, if you all have curfews, now might be a good time to meet them just in case, you know, your parents get upset." Of course, he was mainly referring to himself and how his Aunt May would react if he arrived home too late - even though she knew he would be at this concert until roughly the time it ended.

"No worries," Daphne assured him. "Our parents are safe back home while we're just here on this trip without them."

"Nothing quite like freedom from parental restrictions, I'll say," Velma seconded.

Spidey spun a web, ready to take off. "Well, just make sure you don't take that mindset home, now, kay?"

"Like, okay, Mr. Spider-Man!" Shaggy giggled in excitement.

"Please, just 'Spider-Man'. Mr. Spider-Man was my father!" Spidey joked just before swinging off into the night sky. The gang watched from where they stood as they admired him not only for being a hero and attempting to save the day, but for being the kind of person he was. Sure, he was one more wheel for them to manage in addition to the Hex Girls, Peter Parker, and now Mysterio, but thankfully the former two were the least of their worries. And thanks to Spider-Man, the band was okay to continue playing music as long as they didn't get the attention of Mysterio again. The fate of their concert, however, was a question yet to be answered.

"Isn't he just charming?" said Daphne blushing.

"What's got you into him?" asked Fred concerningly, showing his first real sign of jealousy all trip.

Daphne turned to explain herself. "Oh, me? I'm not into him. It's just… he saved me and, were it not for him, I would've been crushed."

"Right. Yeah," Fred said looking off. "Look, Daph, I'm sorry you almost bit it yet again and, well-"

"Don't, Fred," Daphne put a finger to his mouth. "It wasn't your fault, but, thankfully, he's quick to spot danger a mile away. I'm sure he'll always be there when we need him."

Hopefully, right she was. She was definitely in dire need of protection the way she nearly got run over the other day and now she had nearly been crushed. If Spider-Man was always going to be there, she needed all the protection she could get. Moreover, with Mysterio being the biggest foe they ever faced so far, they were going to need all the _help_ they could get in capturing him. Never before had they fought a supervillain before, much less have a superhero back them up like this - there existed a few superheroes in their world, but hardly any of them had any real superpowers. Certainly, this would be an interesting mystery to solve in the long run.

* * *

 **Action scenes can be tough sometimes, but I hope this one turned out decent. Thank you, faithful readers, and can't wait to read your feedback!**


	5. Friendly Misunderstandings

Gwen, MJ, and Harry were walking down the busy street en route for Harry's convertible parked in a parking garage several blocks away from the Arena. The route getting there, while strenuous with the busy crowds, traffic, and all, wasn't nearly as upsetting as what transpired at the concert. All three of them were used to supervillains such as giant mutant lizards, shape shifting sand people, and scientifically engineered octopi scientists terrorizing the streets and events that they had the unfortunate privilege of bearing witness to. Even though, as expected, Peter left and Spider-Man arrived to take on the freakish magician, they were rather saddened that their favorite band had become a target and that they could do nothing to defend them. Their only option was to follow the guard directing them out of the place to prevent any potential injuries. None were reported from what they heard, but, still, they were very much off put by the same old routine.

"I still can't believe Peter feels the need to run away, unannounced even, the moment a new supervillains rears its ugly face to attack our favorite band!" Gwen complained having witnessed him do this for the umpteenth time. "We could've been hurt in his absence for all we knew!"

"No telling why Pete does that," an annoyed Harry chimed in. "Somebody ought to tell Pete _never_ to abandon his friends in time of need! When he shows up begging for forgiveness-"

"Settle down, Harry," MJ put her hand on his elbow. "Lashing at him like a little boy won't solve anything between you two. Best you talk it out like men."

"While you do what? Tell me everything's okay?" Harry responded, still somewhat cold. "He must've ran off backstage with that Mystery Inc. crew for all I knew! I don't wanna lose my best friend to some band of mystery solvers I've never even heard of, but met once!"

"Harry, Mystery Inc. is cool, especially Velma!" Gwen noted, remembering her initial conversation with the brainiac herself. "What's got you riled up about them?"

Harry withheld himself, not wanting to let himself look bad. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

"Harry, clearly something is very wrong," MJ noted. "Every time we mention them, you get jealous and act up. We don't want you this way. Telling us will be a burden off your shoulders."

Harry displayed a look of defeat. He really didn't want to say it the other day, but, since Peter wasn't around and MJ and Gwen were the only backup he had, he thought maybe coming clean wouldn't be so bad. "Fine," he sighed. "My dad's very much a busy man, you both know that. And, well, Pete's always been there for me when he hasn't and, well… I feel like him turning to befriend other people over me could be his way of maybe sliding away from me. I don't know, I just can't handle the thought of him not being my friend and all."

MJ could see he was desperate; overreacting even. Her only option was to be sensitive to his needs. "Harry, you know he doesn't mean that. He was just excited was all. Your best friend talking to others never means they're not your friend anymore. They're just… expanding their horizons is all."

"Maybe you're right," Harry admitted. "But how do you explain him running off, like, everywhere we go as a group?"

"He's a Parker, that's why," Gwen butted in. "Even Aunt May does that from time to time."

"Don't stereotype the Parker family, sister," MJ turned to her best friend. "They're a special kin that deserves the respect they provide."

"Sure, tell that to Peter when he comes crawling back to us," Gwen stated in her signature sarcasm.

MJ displayed a look of concern. She always bore a sarcastic attitude toward Peter, but even for her, that comment carried a chill as strong as the cool night air they were experiencing. She almost didn't even know what to say without making it worse. "What seems to be the problem?" she ultimately spoke up. "That was a little cold even for you, Gwen. I know Peter has a habit of running off, but to say he doesn't deserve respect, I wouldn't go that far."

Gwen sighed. She often treated Peter sarcastically, but for what purpose? She did like him as a friend, letting him and MJ have their space to grow close to one another, but, with MJ's comment, she slumped in slight regret. "Sorry. It's just I feel like if he's not careful when he chooses to run off, he might turn a blind eye to one of us getting hurt. My dad has the same problem being a cop and all and, well… it makes me mad thinking Pete might have the same fault in him."

MJ almost felt overwhelmed hearing them both discuss their daddy issues and, given how she had her own growing up before moving in with her aunt, she knew what it was like to hold resentment for a father figure against somebody else. Since her early days, though, she learned to work through it and help others with the same stuff. "Well, there's certainly no use taking your feelings for your dad out on him. If you need to, sister, just tell him how you feel. Maybe then you won't have to keep up the sarcasm so much."

In the few seconds it took for Gwen to register a response, she tilted her head slightly in contemplation. _Maybe she's right,_ she thought silently. _If Peter hears the truth then maybe I won't have to keep up this facade of sarcasm._

Suddenly, the three of them heard footsteps running up behind them. Hoping it wasn't a criminal of sorts given the time of night, they each stopped and turned in unison. There was a dark silhouette approaching them from beyond the streetlamp, scaring them out of their minds for a brief moment. It wasn't until the figure came into the light that they saw a familiar face appear in the light casting down on the sidewalk: Peter Parker. "Guys, hey! Sorry, I had to leave so soon. The Bugle called and… asked for some photos and-"

"Can it, Pete. We've heard that excuse one too many times," Gwen rudely interrupted much to his dismay. Ashamed, he thought to maybe share with them the truth, feeling that maybe all his lies of being Spider-Man had piled up high enough to where the walls were impenetrable. But then it struck him that maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all; that it was too soon.

Maybe he would never bring it into the limelight ever in his life.

Thinking smart, he reconsidered his words carefully. "Fine, I'll admit I'm actually… really terrified of wizards like that. Remember that magic show Aunt May took me to see as a kid? I lied about all the tricks he pulled because, in reality, the idea of a person getting sawed in half really terrified me."

Together Gwen and Harry gave him the "folded arms look" whilst MJ remained neutral, apparently believing him somewhat. "Why didn't you just say so?" Gwen asked him surprisingly coolly.

"Yeah, I mean, if we had known, we wouldn't have dragged you to this concert in the first place. I mean, they're called _Hex_ Girls for a reason," Harry explained, seeming cool with his explanation too.

"What was I supposed to do? Say I won't go and get called a weakling by my best friends?" Peter asked them somewhat jokingly. "Thing is, I've already turned down enough time with you guys that I knew I had to make it up to you somehow… and yet I failed again. Can you ever forgive me?"

"We forgive you, Pete," MJ said putting a hand on his shoulder. "There's absolutely nothing that would make us see you differently."

Peter smiled at this compliment of her's; in that moment, his concern for her showing interest in Fred was practically non-existent. "You… you really mean that?"

"Of course! Nothing in the world would make a difference in the way I look at you," MJ assured him. If there was one person he could count on for reassurance, it was her.

"Thanks, MJ. That really helps. Still, if there's any way I can make it up to you guys…"

"Gwen and I are hosting our own makeup concert in my garage tomorrow afternoon. Seeing as we know all the chords of the Hex Girls songs and they didn't finish their performance tonight, I reckon we'd do it for them." What an opportunity. If Peter had a dime for everything MJ did to make up for him missing something, he'd have a full jar by now.

"Call me impressed! If I'm not busy with homework, I'll definitely stop by!" Peter promised.

"Am I invited too?" Harry asked since he had only heard them pitch the idea earlier in their walk.

"Can't forget you either, Harry!" MJ told him enthusiastically to which he punched the air in excitement shouting "YES!"

A surprisingly sweet reunion with the friends he had come to know and love for years since middle school brought them all together - of course, Peter and MJ had known each other since they were kids living next door, yet they had only met Harry and Gwen in middle school. MJ still retained her affection for him and, despite their collective disbelief of his initial excuse, Gwen and Harry seemed to give him another chance to be a better friend. As long as he kept up his front of teaming with Mystery Inc. as Spider-Man whilst maintaining his friendships as Peter Parker, there shouldn't have been much trouble contaminating his social life.

However, he just remembered that he had given the mystery gang his number and address thereby granting them access to call or show up any time, unannounced even. Seeing as the offer for him to be on the team still stood for him as both Peter Parker _and_ Spider-Man, he could only choose to go as one or the other. For the moment, the safest option seemed to be to keep up the act as Spider-Man, perhaps even pretending to turn them down as Peter. He simply couldn't bear to risk his identity with his new friends or compromise his relationships with his old ones.

* * *

Back at the hotel the Mystery Gang had been staying at, each of them had gathered in the same room to discuss matters at hand. The guys had their own room separate from the girls with all of them gathering in the girl's room for easy access to Velma's laptop. Fred and Daphne sat seats apart around Velma who sat between them on the sofa typing away. Since, of course, the two of them were hungry _and_ the girls had the bigger kitchen with more food options, Shaggy and Scooby decided to make some six foot subs that they would eat together. Thankfully, the two of them weren't really that talkative - since they let their stomachs do it for them - which allowed for Fred and Daphne to have easy conversation at a reasonable level.

"So this Mysterio fellow's got some serious issues with the Hex Girls, but then what more does he want?" Fred asked concerningly. "More importantly, who _is_ he? What is he even? If this mystery turns out to be unsolvable-"

"Fred, don't you ever talk like that!" Daphne caught him before he could finish. "Every mystery we've ever run into has been solvable so I can't foresee it changing now!"

"Well, yeah, you're right," Fred admitted. "But still, this guy's unlike anything we've ever seen before. He claims to hail from the 'Arcane Dimension' wherever that is. No telling whether it's real or not, but still, what does that even mean?"

Velma had already been typing away into her search engine as they spoke. "It most definitely has to do with the Arcane arts," she spoke up, turning their eyes to the screen, which displayed images of magician-like wizards conjuring up hexes. "Illusions, per se. Illusion can be used for disguise or manipulation so no doubt a guy like Mysterio is using it to his own advantage to give himself power over lesser beings."

"That would explain the magician getup," Fred noted. "Even so, where does he get all that power to do the… glowing hands thingies?"

"Where else, genius?" Velma snarked, turning him to the computer where she had pulled up database images of Spider-Man's villains. Displayed were pictures of various figures in largely animal-themed costumes. Beneath each picture displayed a caption of which each figured was dubbed by the general public. If there was one person who could do this kind of research fast and efficiently, it was Velma. "He's a supervillain of Spider-Man's known rogues gallery. A lot of them carry power beyond that of natural human reckoning. He's fought a robotic octopus, a suited scorpion, an armored rhinoceros, you name it. And all of them pack some kind of power source that isn't invincible."

"If he's been able to figure out their weaknesses, then there's no doubt we can all pitch in to help him figure out Mysterio's weakness," Daphne added trying to contribute to their brainy exchange.

"It certainly won't be easy, Daph, but with us five, Spider-Man, _and_ possibly Peter Parker, it should be a sinch!" Fred stated optimistically.

"Right. Us five," Daphne said as if leading somewhere condescending. "Fred, can I talk to you in private for a second?"

Fred's eyes widened. Her sudden request startled him as his mind started racing about the possibility of what she had in store for him. Was it about the idea of too many team members? Would they scold each other for presumably liking somebody else? Whatever it was, it maybe wouldn't be the former since, of course, in both instances Daphne was the one to suggest extra members. If it had to do with neither, however, maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Sure thing, Daph. We'll leave Velma to it," he stated out of consideration for Velma's research space bubble.

The two of them then strode together outside of the room to make way for their private conversation. As they walked through the door, Scooby and Shaggy were chewing loudly on their sandwiches, tasting every bit of their irresistible goodness of a variety of meat, bread, veggies, and sauces together in one package. Their smacking had increased in volume over time, reaching a point where Velma could barely concentrate on her nerd girl business, wincing at her computer in an effort to shut them out. Ultimately, she couldn't take it anymore and turned around to face them.

"Could you two keep it down over there?" Velma finally spoke up after clearing her throat.

The duo gave her a look of feigning innocence and gulped big swallows simultaneously. "Sorry, Velm. Like, these New York subs are really hitting the spot in our empty stomachs!" Shaggy stated positively.

"Reah!" Scooby exclaimed. "Wanna try some?"

Velma couldn't have been more annoyed. "No thank you. Now I would appreciate if you two would chew a little more quietly if that's even possible."

"Like, we'll be as quiet as church mice! Right, Scoob?" Shaggy proclaimed.

"Yes, sir!" Scooby said saluting. Even though they said this, they had begun to chew more slowly, even with hardly a difference in volume. Velma rolled her eyes in response as she scrolled and typed away. Whatever would she do with them? Then again, what would their team be without them?

* * *

As Fred and Daphne stepped out into the red-wallpapered hallway, the place was rather quiet. Not unusual for a standard hotel late at night, but a New York hotel definitely. The place was a bit cheap what with the wallpaper fading and the floors relatively unkempt, but it was the best place they could afford given their current funding status. In spite of the place failing to live up to quality standards, this was nothing that would detract from the overall experience of the trip. Daphne thought of it as a more intimate setting for her and Fred after all.

And so, their conversation commenced with an issue that had gone unaddressed since the start of the trip.

"I was just wondering about Shaggy and Scooby," Daphne opened much to Fred's relief. "Remember when I said our team needs to develop a little more 'backbone'?"

"Truly, it's hard to forget anything you say, Daph. Of course I do!" Fred responded truthfully to Daphne's flatteredness to a point where she almost forgot about his supposed eye for Mary Jane.

"Oh, Fred. That's so sweet of you!" she sighed before snapping back to it. "I mean, that's good. And, just so you know, I don't mean we should kick them out if they keep messing up your traps and what not. I was just wondering… you think Peter and Spider-Man could help them develop a little more awareness and responsibility?"

"Well, if they have the skillset we're looking for then, undoubtedly, yes!" Fred immediately jumped on board.

"I'm sure that would be the case what with Spider-Man's knack for saving others and all," Daphne said, reminiscing her dreamy moment of him rescuing her from her danger proneness. "Not sure about, Peter, though."

"You seemed rather fond of his sophisticated wit and brains he demonstrated in our initial chat," Fred pointed out from earlier. "Having him around would almost be like having an extra Velma around."

"See what I mean, Fred? Scooby and Shaggy are way too incompetent compared to those two and… well, if they keep messing with the operations, we may need our newest members come along and teach them their cues a little better," Daphne circled back around to the point of their discussion.

"Wait, hold on. Scooby and Shaggy may disappoint us with setting off the traps incorrectly, but they always succeed somehow. How would our newest members fix what essentially isn't broken?" Fred questioned.

"Well, Shaggy and Scooby love Spider-Man and would do just about anything he says it seems. Just saying, maybe he could help them work your traps a little more smoothly," she explained further. It seemed she was suddenly playing into his love for traps all of the sudden.

"Have him around to coach Scooby and Shaggy? You _sure_ you don't have a thing for Spider-Man?" Fred finally asked.

"You sure _you_ don't have a thing for other redheads?" Daphne finally let on, pointing to his chest, much to his dismay. He must have thought he wasn't talking to both of them when he made his initial compliment about redheads and the fact that they were both in the same room when he said it. It was always this way with Daphne. Every time he showed even a peak of interest in another girl, she'd get jealous and start accusing him of not liking her enough. Of course, he liked her, but clearly he had a hard time conveying it very well.

He had to choose his words carefully. "Hey, come on, Mary Jane's cool, but never as cool as you!"

For once, she seemed to accept that he said the right thing. Whether he truly meant it or not, however, was a different story so she let it be for now. "Hm… very well then. You think we're so cool then, how about you be cool with demonstrating whether our newcomers should be Scooby and Shaggy's helpers? Should there be any more fumbles with your traps, we may need to consider letting them do the talking and sorting them out. Sound good?"

"If it makes you feel any better, Daph, I do care what you have to say. And, as leader of Mystery Inc., I say that should be an okay approach. But let's not tell Scooby and Shaggy directly. Deal?"

"Deal!" she said, holding out her arms, as if bracing for a hug.

Fred, however, didn't seem to reciprocate the maneuver. "Sure thing, Daph!" he said before walking straight by her and opening the door for her. "After you!" He lead her into the room with an elegant wave of his hand. Supposing this was enough of a polite maneuver on his end, she complied and walked back into her's and Velma's room before Fred shut the door behind them.

* * *

As Velma assembled her vlog stuff, rolling out the end of her current shot's closing statement, Scooby and Shaggy finished stuffing their sandwiches whole, smacking their lips until not one single crumb or drop of sauce remained on their faces. Ever so formally, Fred and Daphne then re-entered the room with body language that indicated big news. "Good news, gang! As second-in-command and leader, Daphne and I made an official executive decision to have both Peter Parker _and_ Spider-Man on our team so that we can test the waters with them both."

Shaggy and Scooby, their stomachs full from eating heavy sandwiches, turned simultaneously in excitement toward them. "Like, did you say Spider-Man gets to be on our team?!"

"Well, we could definitely use him to save my life and the band's a couple more times so we figured, yeah, let's give him the VIP test run to see how he likes it," Daphne contributed. "He seems like a bright strategist and all so I'm certain he'll teach us a thing or two."

"Awww, Daphne," Scooby appreciated. "Always looking out for other's needs and our own!"

"Like, you said it, Scoob!" Shaggy said high fiving his bare paws, which were covered in sauce residue.

"That Peter Parker's brains should definitely come in handy too!" Velma reiterated their point from earlier. "Where did you say he lived again?"

"I held onto his address. He had it written as somewhere in Forest Hills, Queens," Fred informed her. "I say we visit him tomorrow to see if he'll come along on our official investigation."

"Jinkies!" Velma exclaimed. "He could make an appearance for the vlog! Since it's been a while since our last one, I figured doing something fresh should help us get more views and followers."

"Velma, you're a genius!" Daphne approved, doing her best to quip like her hero, Spider-Man. "Your ideas get the official Blake Industries seal of approval!"

"What an honor it is!" Velma said, going along with her joke. If it was possible Daphne's dad's company approved of her ideas, she would be a millionaire by now.

Little did Fred and Daphne realize they had left the door open just a crack enough for any unsuspecting patrons to catch wind of their exchange inside the hotel room. Since the Hex Girls had been staying down the hall in a special VIP selected room, naturally, Quentin Beck had also been accompanying them by patrolling the halls for any potential danger. This was the first time he had been around all day and yet no one knew he was there, stalking the gang as he listened in on their conversation. Their chat was supposed to be private, but, if anybody had been there to notice, it almost looked as if he was listening in for info on how to make his next maneuver. Whether he did more than security guarding was way beyond who crossed him and, as he smirked while backing away from the door, he seemed to be clicking with ideas that had come to him in that moment.


	6. Detective Spider-Man of Mystery Inc

The morning after the concert was unlike any other for Peter. It was a Monday morning and he slept in until his usual weekend time of 11 a.m. This time, however, he remembered to sleep in sleepwear instead of his costume thereby putting himself at less of a risk of being discovered. As light poured in from the blinds of his front window, he sat up and stretched his tired muscles, appreciating the rest he got after what felt like a long night dealing with his foes, making plans with his new friends, and regrouping with his old friends to go get a late night dinner at the Silver Spoon where MJ worked. Nothing really important was said during their conversations while they chowed on late night snacky fast food, though he did have fun and couldn't wait to possibly see their live concert next door later in the day.

"Wow, late night strawberry shakes knock me out worse than Shocker's shockwaves," Peter acknowledged how late he slept after his late night snack. "Good news is that Aunt May slept safe and sound knowing I'd be gone long. And today couldn't be a better day to go to a concert next door!"

But then as he sat up to get out of bed and open his shades, he remembered something important; today was the day that he would investigate the crime scene with Mystery Inc. as Spider-Man. If he was caught as the wrong person with the wrong group, things would likely explode into a grand jealousy war between his friends and Mystery Inc. An incident like this would be even worse than the Hulk single handedly taking on the Avengers in the ultimate battle royale.

The sun pouring in warmly through the blinds on his refined spider muscles, Peter turned and witnessed a peculiar hippie-colored van pulling up to the curb in front his front lawn gate. Almost immediately, Peter gasped and ducked to avoid being spotted from the front seat, hoping to God that no one saw him. Taking several deep breaths after his initial gasp, he remained crouched, shocked that Mystery Inc. would arrive so early to have him help investigate the Hex Girls' concert crime scene as Peter Parker.

"Oh no!" Peter expressed in panic, not that he wasn't dressed, but because he wasn't yet in character for his cover-up yet. "I can't let anyone see me without my secret identity! Man, and why did I agree to help them _also_ as myself?!"

It just registered to Peter that he let his own blind "fanboyness" get the best of him the first time he met Mystery Inc. at the signing. He had allowed a blissful moment of blind devotion to his favorite Mystery Gang to grant them access to his number and address just as Scooby and Shaggy idolized his alter-ego enough to accept a card from him. No doubt he must have slept through them texting him overnight as he crawled over to his nightstand Spidey style. He reached for his phone and viewed the screen to find that both Fred and Velma, the two members who liked to take charge, had texted him overnight saying the following:

"Our next investigation will be at noon tomorrow with Spider-Man. Care to help us?"

-Fred

"Hey, Peter. Fred texted you and we haven't heard anything from your face yet. We're just gonna show up around 11 tomorrow and see how you're feeling. Hope all is well!"

-Velma

"Just my luck!" Peter slumped in shame. "If I'd been awake, I'd have said otherwise. I gotta create a diversion fast!"

With enough persistence, and a little luck, hopefully he could pull a masterful disappearing act as Peter in order that he may reappear as Spider-Man - a trick that rivaled Mysterio's disappearances on multiple occasions. His adrenaline kicking in, he bolted downstairs, sliding down the staircase with precision balancing as his aunt happened to be walking by with a bowl of chicken soup. Aunt May's heart leapt, herself jumping back in response. She appeared rather startled that her nephew would wake up so fast and slide down the stairs at an angle that could have potentially caused her to spill her soup all over the floor.

"Oh, dear, Peter!" Aunt May exclaimed. "I was just making an early lunch. What's got you all riled up?"

Despite his desperate needs, Peter found himself at a loss for words. "Well, um…" Peter trailed off when, expectedly, the doorbell rang, his stomach lurching forward forcing him to come up with a last minute excuse on the spot. "That's them! Quick, Aunt May, tell them I can't go and I'm sick, okay?"

Having seen the chicken soup in her hands, that was the best excuse Peter could invent so quickly as he bolted back up the stairs, leaving Aunt May awfully bewildered. "Wait, who's they? Peter!" By the time she finished, he turned to hide back in his room, leaving her with many questions as to who was at the door and whomever he was referring to. With a shrug of her shoulders, Aunt May turned to saunter toward the door, seemingly playing along with Peter's made up story for a change. Her hot soup now in one hand, she used her other hand to twist the doorknob and pulled open the door, revealing the colorful cast that was Mystery Inc.

"Good morning! Mrs. Parker I presume?" the buff young man greeted Aunt May with an adjustment of his ascot. He couldn't tell if he was talking to Peter's aunt or grandma based on her age.

"Goodness!" Aunt May exclaimed once more. "Is this the famed Mystery Inc. that Peter keeps telling me about?" Peter had told Aunt May about Mystery Inc. on a few occasions, but never really bothered to show them to her as she preferred reading over watching Internet videos.

"It sure is!" replied Fred, the leader, introducing himself and the others standing around him in the order of Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby each of whom gave their own waves and remarks.

"What a bunch of characters you are!" Aunt May complimented. "Peter's told me a lot about you all. I'm his aunt, May Parker."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Parker!" he politely shook May's hand. "So, where's Peter today? We were about to bring him on our first investigation to solve the crime at the concert from last night."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Peter wanted me to tell you that he's very sick today," Aunt May told them, buying into sharing his lie. "I've made him soup to help him get better, but that won't be for a while."

Little did they know that Peter was listening in on their conversation from the upstairs ceiling wearing his Spider-Man costume while holding his mask. As bad as he felt for abandoning them as his civilian identity, he wanted to hear their concern to determine whether they did care enough for him behind his back.

At the door, Fred and Velma collectively hung their heads at the disappointing news. "We're sorry he isn't feeling well, May," Fred said. "Let him know we say 'get well'!"

Out of sight, Peter smiled at their fake get well wishes and threw his mask on before jumping down from the ceiling and spinning a web that swung him out of the window.

"I certainly will, Fred! You kids have fun investigating and don't you worry. Peter will be with you in spirit!" Aunt May encouraged as she sent them off.

"Thanks, May! We appreciate it!" Fred said waving and leading the gang off the front porch.

Aunt May couldn't believe the new friends Peter could've made. Based on her first glances, Fred was the most polite young man she ever met, Daphne was an absolute doll, Velma was ambitious, Shaggy was a goof, and Scooby was the most interesting dog she could've sworn said something that sounded like "Hi there!" when Fred introduced him. As interesting of a bunch they were, no one could've ever replaced Peter's high school clique of Mary Jane, Harry, and Gwen for all she knew. As much of a sheltered life as he lead up until recent years, she was glad to see Peter could make friends with folks whom she hardly ever knew. Suddenly, she felt a breeze creep up behind her suddenly signaling her to turn around. Glancing up the stairs, she noticed the back window was open for reasons she couldn't explain. Setting her soup down on the living room side table nearby, she strode up the stairs, grasping her upper body in response to the early Spring breeze that came swirling through her house all of the sudden.

"Oh, Peter needs to consider closing these windows if he doesn't want to catch hay fever or whatever he claims he's got!" Aunt May remarked to herself as she shut the window, unaware of the webs left behind by a certain Web-head swinging through and around her backyard.

* * *

Soon as they all made their way off Peter's lawn and threw the front gate, the Mystery Gang gathered in front of their signature vehicle for a reevaluation of their strategy.

"So much for Peter joining us for field research," Velma recalled Peter's reason for wanting to join them in the first place. "Who's gonna be our sixth member now?"

In the midst of all this, Daphne remained the most optimistic. "I'm sure he'll show up eventually. He's only our age so I'm certain he'll get better soon."

"Of course," Fred chimed in. "But then that leaves only Spider-Man to join us in splitting up and looking for clues today."

"I'm only certain he will. He's the only one we haven't heard from yet," Daphne reminded him that he had given the Web-slinger his number unlike Peter who gave them his.

Just their luck, Fred's cell phone began to ring. Pulling it out of his pocket, he picked it up and viewed the screen, which displayed an unknown number he was almost cautious to answer. "Hold on, gotta take this whoever it is," Fred signaled the gang. He took the call and held it up to his ear. "Fred Jones of Mystery Inc. How can I help you?"

"Hey, Fred, Spidey here. Did you need a sixth member to help you today with your investigation?" Spidey offered, reminding him of last night.

"It's Spider-Man," Fred whispered off phone, getting some excited looks from Scooby, Shaggy, and Daphne all at once. "But of course! We talked about it last night. Are you still in?"

Suddenly, the bunch of them saw Spidey land directly in front of where they stood on the sidewalk talking to them both in person and on the phone all at once. "Am I still in? Of course, I would be!" Spidey hung up, setting his phone in his built-in suit pocket so he could converse with them. "So what's the plan? Are we gonna split up and look for clues Spidey style?"

The gang gave each other excited looks knowing that their hero and newest ally was rather excited to begin the routine. "We usually wait until we arrive at the location of the crime scene to split up," Daphne announced. "In the meantime, feel free to join us in the Mystery Machine if you don't mind squeezing in the back."

For a brief moment, Scooby and Shaggy gave each other electrified looks at the thought of their hero riding with them, but then remembered he was called "Web-swinger" for a reason. "Appreciate the offer, but these Web-shooters aren't just for rescuing damsels like yourself," Spidey said in hopes to lift her spirits despite turning down her initial offer. Daphne blushed, much to Fred's dismay.

"Let's just hope the moment the magician reappears, you'll be the one to web him straight, Spidey!" Shaggy commented with his usual nervous yet excited laugh.

"Reah! Scooby no likey the monsters!" Scooby pretended to talk with broken English for a change.

"Well, no matter what, if you all need me, I'll be swinging high in the sky… above the streets at least," Spidey commented. His comment seemed to cause Velma to hold her hand to her chin, thinking.

"Well, if you're gonna be following us, I do happen to have a means of communication that's more efficient than that clunky cell phone of yours," Velma snapped her fingers as she spoke up.

"Wow… really?!" Spidey exclaimed in his normal tone of voice before reverting back to his disguised superhero tone of voice. "I-I mean, really? You must be a brilliant tech expert then."

"Were you even paying attention last night?" Velma asked in her signature snark. "My tech plus your abilities practically means we'll have extra ground to cover."

The gang all nodded in unison to her idea, confident that they would work well together having Spider-Man guard them like a guardian angel with such a dangerous villain on the loose.

* * *

As the gang made their way over to Manhattan, traffic increased with every street they turned onto - something the Mystery Gang wasn't used to in their small town. Spidey, on the other hand, certainly was used to this kind of traffic even though he never had to deal with it directly. Swinging around while waiting for a vehicle to make a turn wasn't exactly Spidey's cup of tea, but he was capable of keeping them within viewing range nonetheless.

"So let me get this straight: you're capable of detecting danger and keeping track of targets by use of an alarm going off in your brain?" Velma asked him over the headset she installed into his suit.

( _A nifty gadget; this'll definitely come in handy for while I'm web-swinging and calling people,_ Spidey thought as Velma meticulously installed on his mask - thank the Lord she didn't try and pull it off.)

"That just about sums it up. It's really hard to explain the mechanics of Spider Sense to someone who doesn't have it, but I'm just happy you're curious," Spidey remarked, feeling a sense of relief that he got an explanation of how his powers work of his chest. He was very much tired of hiding away every part of himself that to share more of his power's traits with Mystery Inc. gave him almost a breath of fresh air.

"Like, if I were you I would use Spider Sense to detect all the food in the world for me and Scoob here!" Shaggy butted in over the headset.

"Reah, and I would be Spider-Mutt! Spider-Man's most loyal rog companion," Scooby responded.

"It's 'dog', Scooby," Daphne corrected him. "There's no such thing as a 'rog'."

"That's what I said: _rog_!" Scooby tried to correct her through his use of talking with the "R" dialect.

Spidey continued to swing along to their funny nonsense conversation until the NYC Arena was in plain sight, away from all the busy New York traffic. Secretly, hearing them talk was something akin to his days of watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid - a period of nostalgia he wished he could return to. There was a certain comradery between them that likened them to the mystery cartoons he grew up watching. Seeing/hearing them interact in person was basically like having those shows brought to life. So, knowing it would be entertaining, he let them talk the whole time until he heard the van screech to a halt over the headset.

"We can put a pin in this for now, gang. We're here," Fred drove the conversation to a screeching halt just as he did the Mystery Machine. This prompted Spidey to swing off one final webline and arch onto the ground in the area in front of the Mystery Machine. Once the gang piled out of the van, they witnessed a discouraging sight ahead of them: the whole area was still barricaded by cops. At first glance, it seemed to be an unfortunate situation in which they would possibly get kicked out before they could investigate. It just so happened that a cop was standing in the immediate vicinity in front of them.

"Hold it!" the cop exclaimed. "This is official investigation only. No bystanders allowed on the premise."

For a quick flash of a moment, Mystery Inc. was bummed that they couldn't investigate the scene. Then, thinking quick like he did, Spidey spoke up. "Pardon me, sir, but they're with me," Spidey told him in hopes it would gain them clearance.

"My apologies, Spider-Man. I thought a bunch of teens and their dog happened to be walking onto the scene without clearance, but, since you're here, I say go ahead." the cop explained turning his eyes toward the psychedelic van. "Also, now I see this is the van of Mystery Inc. so you're clear too!" Unlike some more notable people throughout the city, the cops had an undying oath to respect Spider-Man's presence at the scene of a crime. Gwen's dad, Commissioner George Stacy, happened to be the author of this oath and it cemented itself into the NYPD's philosophy in order that Spider-Man may have protection by and from the authorities. As a bonus, this cop in particular seemed to recognize Mystery Inc. by their vehicle's iconic appearance, which Scooby and the others greatly appreciated.

"Oh, sir, you are too kind!" Spidey commended.

With that, Spidey and the gang strolled their way into the arena, making their way toward the main concert hall in the center. The regular lighting still intact, the place remained wrecked after the other day. People's belongings still littered the floor and the speakers on stage as well as the podium in the center of the room still had yet for a clean up crew to come get them. The place was generally low maintenance that there were now talks about moving the makeup concert to a different area, which had yet to be confirmed. Regardless, the place was still ripe with a vibe that told the crew it was time to investigate.

"Okay, gang. Let's split up and look for clues!" Fred barked at everyone in his traditional catchphrase.

"Somehow, I knew you'd say that, Fred!" Spidey pointed at him. "Not that I care, but I almost wanted to say it myself."

"Don't worry," Fred assured him, laughing. "You can say it next time if you want. Even we get tired of the same old routine from time to time."

"Will do, sir!" Spidey signaled at his now boss - little did he know he was still technically interning as Peter under the mask. "Now then, gotta blanket the area and make out anything suspicious for you guys!"

Spidey spun off on a web line that allowed him to zoom upward toward the ceiling. He stuck the upward landing and perched in the arena's upper balconies as everyone gazed off at him being heroic - Shaggy and Scooby, of course, still being stoked about witnessing Spidey's web tactics in action. "Guess that leaves the rest of us to split up individually," Velma noted. "How about Fred and Daphne go together and I'll go with Scooby and Shaggy?"

"Like, that leaves the splitting up to be very uneven," said Shaggy in his neat and organized OCD nature his skinny thumb pointed at his hero. "Like, how about I go with Spider-Man and Velma goes with Scooby?"

"You'll just get distracted with his awesomeness and/or sneak off to look in the kitchen," Daphne snapped back at Shaggy. "I say I'll go with Spider-Man, you and Scooby go together, and Fred and Velma can look together. Sound fair?"

Fred lowered his head in shame, feeling like Daphne was still betraying him for Spider-Man. Still, as a young man full of respect and some dignity, he tried not to worry about it and accepted the even split between the six of them. "Sure thing, Daph. Now let's get a move on! This case isn't gonna solve itself!"

The rest of the gang proceeded to split in their traditional "Y" formation, Shaggy and Scooby heading to the back of the room, while Fred and Velma fanned out the opposite direction. Daphne, meanwhile, remained in place to call out to Spider-Man. "Hey, Spider-Man!" she yelled. "Can I get a lift on one of your web lines?"

"Sure thing! But they cost five bucks to use!" he said spitting out a webline that fell to the floor like a rope.

Seeing this, Daphne approached the web line, giddy with joy. "Oh, stop! You save everyone for free don't you?" she retorted, trying to be flirtatious and funny all at the same time. Once she grabbed the webline, Spidey ascended her like a circus performer on a swing set. Once more, she swooned at his heroic bravery to keep her from working too much to save herself - something Fred never did. As long as he kept on saving her, she wouldn't need to worry.

* * *

At the other end of the room, Scooby and Shaggy continued to search out the area with Shaggy's cell phone flashlight and Scooby's doggish sense of smell. They were seemingly cool with one another despite Shaggy's willingness to go after splitting up with Spider-Man alone. After all, they were pet and owner and their interest in New York's biggest hero wasn't amplified by jealousy in any way. Their friendship was something they treated like a sacred bond that could never be broken.

And, of course, there was food that strengthened their senses.

After only a few seconds of searching, Scooby picked up a smell that struck his senses.

"Shaggy, I smell something!" Scooby perked up.

"Like, what is it Scoob?" Shaggy questioned not knowing whether to be fearful or excited.

Scooby continued to sniff the area until his sense of smell lead him to the closed kitchen door. Without second thoughts, he mindlessly strolled through following the scent trail much to Shaggy's dismay.

"Scooby-Doo! Where are you?!" Shaggy exclaimed barely having witnessed his best friend disappear into the shadows. Since he was so scared of the dark, his thoughts raced with anxiety wondering where Scooby had gone beyond the threshold of the door. Suddenly, the metal divider at the window adjacent to the door began to slide open, revealing that Scooby had gone to the other side and picked out a huge bag of kettle corn from the kitchen. All at once, Shaggy was relieved with joy.

"It's okay, Raggy! I've found food for us both!" Scooby announced with joyful glee knowing the kitchen was abandoned due to the place being on lockdown.

"Like, you rock, Scoob!" Shaggy complimented his longtime companion and pet. "Let's dig in before our bellies get the best of us!"

With that, Shaggy hopped behind the counter to join Scooby in pigging out on the bag of kettle corn, not caring about how much they dropped on the floor. For that matter, they didn't seem to care about the case at hand. All they could care about in that moment was not starving to death under dire circumstances for all they knew.

* * *

Meanwhile, Spidey and Daphne investigated the upper balcony lit brightly by the back lights lining the walls. From where they crawled under the seats, the light illuminated the floor like no other as they browsed the place for any potential danger.

"Daphne, you seeing anything?" Spidey called out to her several rows down.

"Nothing yet. Just a bunch of skid marks from the patrons scattering last night," Daphne replied, turning down a row noticing all the black marks on the floor.

"Well, if you see anything, just holler!"

"Okay!" All of the sudden, Daphne looked up and she came face-to-face with Spider-Man's sunglasses lense-like white eyes, both of them startled as their eyes widened and they both yelped. "Sorry, Spider-Man."

"Not a biggie, Daph," Spidey responded, Daphne taking note of his use of the name "Daph". Was he starting to like her too? "I reckon this search isn't going the greatest." He added awkwardly, knowing how great his awkwardness was in front of girls - save for MJ - without the mask.

"Maybe try using your Spider Sense again to cover a bigger area," Daphne suggested neutrally. A pang of guilt nagged at her for the way in which she felt Spider-Man was latching onto her in a way that Fred hadn't yet.

Spidey glanced at the ceiling lamps lining the top of the arena and looked back at Daphne seeing that she, too, was a genius of some sort. "Great idea!" Spidey zipped toward the nearest ceiling lamp, his gracefulness recapturing Daphne's attention. There was a certain blissfulness in watching him act all cool and heroic that she never got with Fred; despite this, she wasn't sure what to think as she got up and proceeded down the back stairwell.

Spidey hung upside down in his usual spider-like fashion where he re-scanned the area with his own Spider Sense. From where he hung out, he scanned the far end corner of the room for any potential dangers or distractions. Through a heat vision-like field of view, he noticed a couple silhouettes hanging out by the kitchen entrance - one was a skinny, shaggy dude, the other a dog. It was clear to him in this moment that Scooby and Shaggy were now slacking off in the kitchen, eating a gigantic bag of something he couldn't quite make out. Based on his experience, he knew there should be no distractions when solving a mystery.

He radioed into Scooby and Shaggy on the latter's cell phone. "Hey, Scoob, Shag - hands off the sweets until we're done with this case!" Spidey called out to them.

From over the phone, it sounded like the duo had spit out their food out of embarrassment since their hero could sense them. "Like, sorry, Spider-Man," Shaggy apologized, laughing nervously. "We'll get back to it right away."

"Me too!" Scooby said valiantly.

Having taken care of that, he hung up and turned to the front of the room to spot Fred and Velma investigating down below on the stage. From his top-down view, Velma was a brown dot surrounded by a red pleated skirt similar to what he'd seen on radars. Fred, meanwhile, was a blonde top molded between broad white shoulders. He didn't need Spider Sense to know that Velma was peering through her camera as they walked about the stage walkway commentating together and looking for any clues. Before they noticed it, Spidey spotted a peculiar remote-looking device right in Velma's path.

* * *

"Still nothing," Velma stated, annoyed that they hadn't found anything after an extensive search throughout the trash-filled arena floor in front of the stage. "Wonder if…"

"Velma, watch your feet!" Spidey called out from the ceiling way above her, his voice echoing off the walls similar to how Mysterio's voice boomed by default. Velma gasped at his sudden announcement, stepping backward as she realized she was about to step on a box-shaped brown and green remote-like device with satellites and gadgets extending from its side. Out of curiosity, Velma knelt, tugging at her short skirt, and examined the remote through her glasses and camera. This was vlog material if she ever saw it.

"Jinkies!" she exclaimed as per usual. "Did anyone else see this before?"

"I sure didn't, but look!" Fred pointed kneeling near the edge of the stage. "A nearly invisible strand of string; two of them to be exact," he said noticing two of them extending from where the remote sat.

"Well, now, as short as this investigation was, I think we've found our best first clues for now," Velma stated optimistically. "Thanks, Spider-Man!"

"Whoa, wait!" Spidey said safely rappelling by web from the ceiling. "We're done this quick? But I just started!" He finally landed directly in front of Fred and Velma in order that they saw eye-to-eye.

"Don't worry, Spider-Man," Fred laid a friendly shoulder on the Web-head. "We usually have an initial investigation and study the clues before we come up with a solution to keep the villain away before we then ultimately trap him."

"Oh, gee, who would've thought of that? Mr. 'Don't Worry About A Thing'?" Velma sassed putting her hands on her hips.

"Velma, there's absolutely no need to talk like that," Daphne asserted having just come from upstairs. "We had a great investigation and that's what matters." Little did the gang realize that Scooby and Shaggy had approached them with a gigantic half-eaten bag of kettle corn.

"Like, at this rate, we totally got this mystery in the bag," Shaggy said muffled, his mouth chock full of glutinous kettle corn.

"Reah, and kettle corn too!" Scooby added popping yet another piece into his already full mouth.

"You might want to consider holding off the food until _after_ the investigation next time," Spidey suggested, wising up in hopes to train his fanboys how to be more like him. He didn't know it yet, but he was following Daphne and Fred's wish for them.

Of course, no one was surprised that Scooby and Shaggy had gone off to eat mounds of food rather than investigate. _Some slackers they are,_ Velma thought, but decided not to say out loud for fear of offending Daphne. Even Spidey knew they liked to do this judging by the shots of them eating in Velma's vlogs, footage of which she had been getting since applying Spidey's headset.

"Well now, we'll make sure we can get all the evidence we need before we determine whether to investigate some more," Velma said, ignoring the previous exchange. "And I'll say your skills are top-notch when it comes to displaying scientific methods and what not."

From under the mask, Spidey smiled at this compliment from Velma. He seemed to be the only thing aside from his friend, Gwen, to bring out any positivity in her. "Oh, well, it was nothing," he replied happily. "Thanks again for having me, guys, and call me when you need anything!"

He spun several webs as he made his way out of the massive arena, leaving Mystery Inc. in the dust for good reason. As he broke his way out from behind the barricades of cops and police cars, Spidey swung into the urban jungle of Manhattan, blissful and uncaring of anything else in his life at the moment. He had finally gotten to work with his longtime idol mystery solvers to only scratch the surface of a case at hand. Even if it wasn't the whole case just yet, he knew that figuring out Mysterio's identity could wait until later. After all, it was only a half hour now since MJ and Gwen started their own private concert. No doubt Harry was there already, basking in the joy of hearing them sing and play instruments that were likely causing the elderly neighbors to "keep it down" and such. And, even though he had a viable excuse of needing to do "homework" today, he was hopeful that nobody suspected him doing anything with anybody else - especially if it meant Harry accusing him of liking Mystery Inc. over him. As long as he could hang onto his friends, nothing else mattered.


	7. The First Clue

In your typical teens fashion, Harry, Gwen, and MJ had all gathered at the Watson residence to assemble for their unofficial music event, which was starting soon. Aunt Anna was at work as well as Aunt May so they obviously wouldn't have felt the disturbance for either residence. The time was one p.m. and they were all ready to rock inside of MJ's garage with her keyboard and microphone and Gwen's drums hooked up to the various amplifiers scattered around the place. The place was so decked out, they couldn't wait to play the first note. Regardless, they almost felt guilty about starting right away. Not yet had there been any sign of their best, but least reliable friend, Peter Parker, which was no surprise even though he said he would be busy.

Rather unnaturally, this caused Gwen to hesitate after clapping her drum sticks. Concerningly, MJ turned her direction, a worried look spread across her face.

"What's the hold up, sister?" MJ spoke up. "Cat got your drum?"

"Haha. Very funny, Mary," Gwen clapped back with enough sarcasm to send a literalist packing. "Nothing's wrong it's just… Peter… I'm worried he might miss it."

She hadn't displayed genuine concern for Peter before now making this quite unusual for her even from her friend's point of view. Most of the time she was quick to snark about his incompetence and his tardiness, but right now, she was practically a different person. "Not to worry," MJ assured her. "He said he might be busy with homework so I'm sure he's just… you know, locked in his room studying his brains out."

"Like I don't ever do that enough," Gwen boasted about her ability to keep up in school. Her intellect was part of the reason she was able to get along well with others like Peter and Velma to begin with.

"I wouldn't brag if I were you," MJ advised her gently.

"You mean like how Peter brags about how he knows his idols whereas I don't?" Harry asked from the couch somewhat aggressive, still stuck on the idea of jealousy towards Mystery Inc.

"Hold on, Harry. Is there something I should know?" she asked him sensitively.

His eyes widened as if being accused. He shrank back in embarrassment. "No. No there isn't," he finally said. His forlorn face showed, however, that he was clearly lying.

"This is about that Mystery Inc. bunch isn't it?" MJ said, essentially guilting him to come clean.

His face showed he was definitely about to. "Yes, MJ," he admitted shamefully as if responding to his mother - whom he never knew due to her untimely passing upon having him.

"Come on, he's not with them as far as I know. I did see the Mystery Machine drop by this morning, but no sign of Peter with them," she explained revealing more evidence to try and reassure Harry this was no big deal.

 _The Mystery Machine was here this morning?!_ Harry had a livid thought to himself. _That does it!_ "Well, if that's the case, maybe I'll try to be okay for now. Can't guarantee though," he disguised his thoughts by pretending everything was going to be okay. In his mind, however, it wouldn't be for him and Peter.

"Whatever you say, Harry," MJ finished. "Now let's rock this neighborhood!"

"One, two, three, four!" Gwen shouted, tapping her drumsticks together in a rhythmic fashion. From then on, MJ and Gwen went off to play the opening bars of the Hex Girls' classic "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air". Since MJ couldn't play both keyboard and guitar and Harry had no knowledge of how to play instruments, she substituted Thorn's guitar sounds by alternating between her keyboard's sound settings of "traditional" and "electric guitar". The sound did wonders for the song sounding accurate, of which the girls knew full well how to make it so since they'd been studying into it for quite some time. Hopefully, in their minds, it wouldn't take Peter just as long to come and enjoy the concert before it would then be too late to catch it again.

* * *

After a lengthy swing home, Peter hid behind his house to change back to his normal self. Making sure no one else saw him changing behind the fence, he was relieved to hear the wondrous sound of MJ's voice still singing the Hex Girls tunes he vaguely remembered from their CD - he had hardly heard anything other than those songs due to the unfortunate halt at the real concert. Once he finally got changed out, he quickly ran around front toward MJ's garage where Harry was sitting on the torn up couch in front of the girls playing their instruments and singing their hearts out.

"Hey, Harr!" Peter exclaimed happily as he mosied up next to his best friend.

"Oh, hey, Pete," Harry responded almost disinterested much to Peter's confusion as he backed away.

Right then, the girls had rolled out the last few notes of the song. Wanting more, Peter stood up and gave them a literal round of applause by circling his hands around as he clapped them. "Woohoo! Rock on, girls!" Peter exclaimed in a congratulatory fashion. "One more song!"

Giving their friend a concerned glance, MJ and Gwen almost seemed hesitant to share something with him. "Sorry, Tiger. We'd love to, but that was the end of our scheduled performance," MJ explained mimicking somewhat the nature she observed in Thorn through interviews.

"Time to pack this up and go home," Gwen followed, apparently mimicking Dusk's nature.

"That's what happens when you miss out on things, Pete," Harry said, appearing as though distasteful with his tardiness as usual. Peter winced as though Harry was about to let him have it, but nothing came whilst MJ walked over to them both out of an obligation to keep it from going south.

"I'm sorry, guys," Peter apologized. "Like I said, I was busy with homework and-"

"No need, Tiger," MJ interjected, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You gave a good reason to be gone and that's the best you could do. We won't hold it against you, we promise."

The usual MJ sympathy, which Peter smiled at, astonished at her ability to ease the situation. "Your's is appreciated, MJ," he responded. "Can I help you all pack up to make up for it?"

"Sure!" she immediately said. "You boys can start by moving the couch back inside."

"Will do!" Peter giggled in an effort to keep the situation light. Something in Harry's face told Peter this was the perfect opportunity to tell him something, leaving Peter nervous as to find out what especially if MJ wasn't around. Regardless of what it would become, he and Harry got into position, ready to manhandle the couch like the young men they were. "Ready, Harr?"

"Ready, Pete," Harry responded neutrally just before the two lifted from either side, grunting from the force they exerted to lift it. Stepping around MJ and Gwen, they shifted the couch to the side in order to get it through the door and back it up down the stairs. After several intricate shifts and coordination, the boys finally managed to set MJ's dad's old couch back where it belonged in front of the TV downstairs. Catching their breath, Peter and Harry eventually faced one another.

"Good work, Harr!" Peter complimented his friend, lifting his hand to give a high five. A few seconds of waiting and Harry didn't reciprocate, instead just standing there with a perturbed expression on his face. "W-what's wrong? Ears blown out after the concert?"

"Oh, nothing," Harry sarcastically lied. "What's up with the Mystery Machine stopping by your house this morning?"

"Whoa, what Mystery Machine?" Peter asked concerningly, apparently faking a lie.

"Don't lie to me, Pete. MJ told me that van drove up to your house this morning and that she didn't see you," Harry accused him. "Were you trying to avoid us by sneaking into their van and solving mysteries today?"

"Harry, I-I didn't go anywhere today," Peter stuttered in an effort to feign innocence. "I was literally in my room doing homework all day!"

"Oh yeah? Then how come they stopped by your place of all places today? Were they having a visit or picking you up for coffee?"

"Neither, Harry. I turned them down!" Peter said, raising his voice. He pretty much lost it on that last part, feeling angry that Harry, in a way, figured out his secret life to a degree. He really didn't want this to happen, but it was.

Surprisingly, Harry stopped to think about Peter's last statement, seemingly unfazed by him raising his voice slightly. "Very well then. Why should I believe you though?"

"Because, Harry, would I ever lie to you?" Peter asked the most rhetorical question in his book of rhetorical questions about himself. He did lie all the time and Harry knew it.

"Don't lie to yourself, Pete. You do all the time to me and the girls," said Harry rubbing it in his face. "Tell you what, if you really want to prove you're not lying to me, then, from here on out, don't go talking to anyone from Mystery Inc. Got it?"

Harry was getting real serious about their friendship. It was almost as if he were the manipulative partner trying to control the relationships the other has, but in a best friend type of context. This was no situation for Peter to be in. He would have rather lived in harmony with all his friends no matter what. Submitting to him out of pure loyalty and fear of losing their friendship, Peter lowered his head shamefully. "Fine, Harr," Peter sighed, worried about another wheel in his wheel of problems to work around.

"Good," Harry said, walking back up the stairs halfway before turning back to point a finger at him. "And I mean not to _anyone_ , the talking dog especially."

Harry then turned to make his way all the way back upstairs, leaving Peter to sulk about his recent decisions. Already he felt guilty about turning down his most loyal friends and their concert for a band of mystery solvers he had only ever been big fans of prior to the moment. Even so, Peter didn't believe he deserved to feel that way over a petty issue with his jealous best friend whom he really cared about. First and foremost, Harry really needed to get a hold of himself. He was clearly overreacting to nothing and yet Peter didn't know how to tell him - he didn't want to lecture him through it either. If only MJ were there to witness their conversation. She'd have known full well what to do and, for the moment, it looked like the best Peter could do was wait to find out.

* * *

The back compartment of the Mystery Machine seemed like the safest place for Velma to dissect the remote and string they found while investigating the crime scene earlier. No one was in sight to question what she was doing - not even the Hex Girls - and she could concentrate on her actions more than anything. It was dark out too so that was one advantage of avoiding being seen at the moment. Of the gang, Velma was clearly the least social, but she still talked with them like a friend would; heck, she'd be okay with talking to Gwen again if the opportunity arose.

As she worked hard and well, using her various tools under her portable lamp light to check and measure what she was doing, she brushed all thoughts of social interaction aside and concentrated on making sure she took everything apart without breaking the remote. When she couldn't find much to examine on the sides of the remote, she decided to look within, starting with the battery compartment. She unscrewed the bolts very meticulously in order that the remote would stay together at all costs. Underneath her source of illumination, she caught something peculiar on the inside written in black sharpie: "Property of Daniel Prezette". This struck her with a twinge of anxiety as she had only ever met Daniel the other day through mobile video chat. As the special effects manager, however, he was barely ever seen out in the open, opting instead to operate his contraptions in the shadows. The mere idea of Daniel doing such gave her a lingering suspicion that he was somehow the cause of the Mysterio happening the other day and, as with every case they ever solved, came to a decision to investigate the matter at hand by going to visit the gang.

As Velma made her way toward the top of the penthouse, she ran with passion for the purpose of hopefully solving the mystery further. Whether or not Prezette was the real culprit, however, was beyond her, but she knew by instinct that it wouldn't hurt to try. Once she barged into the door of her's and Daphne's room, she found the gang all in different positions - Daphne pacing around, Fred sitting on the bed thinking, and Scooby and Shaggy slouched at the table, full from their previous meal.

"Guys! I think I might have a lead on something here!" Velma exclaimed immediately, holding up the remote as she did so, and turning all their heads toward her.

"What is it Velm?" Fred asked of concern.

"The remote indicates the presence of our first suspect. Come here, come look!" Velma urged them on, pulling out a seat from the table that Shaggy and Scooby were at as Fred and Daphne stood next to her. "This remote belongs to Daniel Prezette, the Hex Girls' special effects manager."

Scooby and Shaggy, despite their fullness, leaned in to examine the evidence with her. "Like, isn't that that one guy whom we've barely met and hardly even know?"

"That's how it seems to be with everyone following in lead with the Hex Girls, genius," Velma stated in her signature sass.

"You hear that, Raggy? She called you a genius!" Scooby pointed out to his faithful owner.

Shaggy giggled. "Like, that's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say, Velm! I'm truly flattered."

"Thanks for the compliments," Velma remarked, seeming disinterested that he didn't get her sarcasm for a change. "Anyways, for all we know, the evidence seems to line up perfectly. Prezette may be our first suspect, but why else would we not have seen him much these last few days?"

"Bleekers, that's it!" Fred determined, cupping his fist in his hand before raising a finger. "Daniel Prezette may be behind the Mysterio case! We ought to tell the Hex Girls and get some answers from him before the next concert tomorrow in case that happens again."

"Right, what Freddy said," Daphne announced laying a hand on his shoulder before turning to face him. "And, I'll say 'bleekers' is a better catchphrase, except that it sounds too much like my 'jeepers'."

"Sorry, Daph, I guess I'll keep trying," he promised. It had been years since the gang had first started working on solving mysteries - since Scooby was a pup really and the kids were in middle school - and yet, all this time Fred still didn't have a catchphrase. When startled or surprised, the gang always came up with something they uttered in shock; Shaggy said "Zoinks!", Scooby said "Ruh roh!", Daphne said "Jeepers!", and Velma said "Jinkies!" All were very creative and Fred still didn't know how to come up with one. Hopefully, the more they dug into the mystery the more Fred would find his inner catchphrase that he, too, could utter like the rest.

Together, the gang made their way over to the Hex Girls' penthouse room in the center of the top floor. As VIPs, they had badges to give them access to both backstage and the girl's rooms at any given time - except for the dog who always had to wait outside, much to Scooby's dismay. Upon entering the band's penthouse suite, the gang was amazed to see the fantastic view of the city, which was breathtaking compared to their standard hotel room. The band happened to be gathered around on the couches surrounding the coffee table, Thorn fiddling with her guitar strings while Dusk played with her chopsticks leftover from dinner and Luna pretended to play a keyboard in midair. They all were collectively humming musical notes from their tunes and putting them together into a medley of sorts before each of them turned to notice the Mystery Gang walking in on their free time.

"Mystery Inc.! What brings you all here?" asked Thorn, excited yet concerned to see them there so late.

"Sorry to walk in uninvited on you all," Velma apologized, sucking up to her idols. "We know even as a band you need your time alone."

"All is well, mystery girl," Thorn assured her biggest fan. "Even after that Mysterio ruckus yesterday, I feel like I could take on the world with my music!"

"That's what we came to talk to you about and it involves this remote we found at the crime scene yesterday," Velma said, holding up the remote belonging to Mr. Prezette.

"That-that's Daniel's remote!" Dusk expressed her shock very convincingly. "You don't think he-?"

"Yes, we do," Fred butted in. "And if he's around, we're gonna catch him red handed!"

Right then, immediately as Fred finished his sentence, the man himself walked out of the bathroom door down the hall, dressed in his hippie attire and glasses while plastering a look of concern on his five o'clock shadow. "Oh, greetings, Mystery Incorporated! What brings you here so late?"

Velma began to approach him, arms folded as if about to interrogate him because. "Don't act like we don't know what you're up to, Mysterio!" she accused him. "What was _your_ remote doing on stage and why were there strings attached to the speakers? Hm? Were you trying to sabotage the show with your own special effects and tricks or something?"

"It wasn't me, I swear!" Daniel swore on his life as he back up against the wall to avoid Velma's wrath.

"Uh huh," Velma nodded sarcastically. "That's just what Mysterio would say. So tell us, where do you get your powers from and why'd you do it?"

"All these pointless questions. I'm still not really sure what you're getting at," the man seemed to feign his own innocence. Velma couldn't believe herself almost. She was interrogating the man she thought had a thing for her - of which she did not personally reciprocate.

"Oh yeah? Then how do you explain your constant disappearances from backstage to operate your special effects?" Velma grilled him once more. The scowl on Velma's face was ripe with accusation and Prezette still didn't seem to know how to defend himself.

"Look, go easy on me. I'll tell you everything you need to know!" Prezette raised his hands in an effort to show his surrender. "Now if you could please back up and let me sit down?"

Velma stopped to think on it as if she didn't know whether to continue or let him talk. "Fine, let's hear the story with everyone in earshot. Got it?"

Daniel nodded in submission signaling Velma to back away and let him sit amongst the Hex Girls while the gang continued standing attentively facing him. "After the special effects for the concert's intro had run their course, I sat my remote down and took a stretch. When I turned back, I had found the remote had been tampered with in some way. My remote has password access that only I bear knowledge of. And the fact that it locked me out of the system rendered my input to the concert useless. Next thing I knew, I was knocked out by some unknown force, missing half the concert. When I woke up, the show had ended abruptly and my remote was gone. Whatever happened, I'm fully unsure of."

Even after all that, Velma displayed a look of uncertainty. "How should we believe you?" she asked condescendingly.

"Ask the security guy. He should have the footage available," Daniel suggested pointing them to Quentin Beck whom they hadn't seen either. Even so, there seemed little reason to suspect him.

* * *

Later on, the gang met with Quentin Beck in his little security room at the NYC Arena as he had unlocked the door to allow them clearance into the room. "I don't know why this couldn't wait until morning, guys, but the best I can do is give you the angle of the security footage I caught before this all happened," Beck sighed as he opened the security room door.

"Thank you, Mr. Beck! We'll be quick, I promise," Fred assured him to which Beck then gave a quieting glance at the gang before leaning on the door to stand guard.

As the gang accessed the security monitor footage, searching endlessly for the right one until they found Daniel Prezette on the monitor. With her tech expertise, Velma played back the footage for everyone as the gang stood still to watch the events unfold on screen. Everything had played out just as Prezette described only this time they noticed something extra: Mysterio's hand appeared and disappeared swiping the remote and setting it back on the table where it came from. After Daniel picked it back up and struggled to access the mainframe, he fell to the ground as Mysterio stood behind him, having summoned a green storm cloud to zap both him and the camera with lightning as the video shut down.

With this knowledge in mind, Velma jiggled the battery cover of the remote, which she had brought with her. She managed to pry it open to find something crucial sitting behind the batteries and inside cover: a hacking device. "Jinkies! It all makes sense now. Prezette _was_ telling the truth! And this remote's been tampered with."

"But then we still don't know who this Mysterio is or why he's doing this," Fred noted, anxious to find out who the Arcane wizard really was. "For now, however, we need a defensive strategy. We ought to keep a watchful eye on this remote so that, in case Mysterio shows up again tomorrow in Central Park, he won't be able to get his dirty hands on it and harm the band again."

"Love the enthusiasm, Fred!" Daphne complimented her dream boy crush hoping he would reciprocate. "Will you defend me as well?"

"You and all redheads, Daph!" he remarked, cleverly trying to include Mary Jane in all of this for some reason to which Daphne sighed, but didn't know why.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Lovely, Fred," to try and mask her distaste.

* * *

Once the gang headed back out into the night in the Mystery Machine and returned to the hotel, Velma decided to contact somebody of significance she had yet to talk to via video chat: Gwen Stacy. Lying in her bed, she got very giddy as her fair face and blonde hair appeared on her laptop.

"Hey, best friend!" Gwen introduced herself as such.

"Hey there, Stacy!" Velma called her by last name before cutting to the chase. "You wouldn't happen to be going to the makeup concert in Central Park tomorrow would you?"

"You bet I'll be there!" Gwen raised a fist, excited to see the Hex Girls try again to perform in Manhattan. "Any reason why you asked?"

"Because there seems to be a lot of drama with the gang that I figured I would take a bit of a break and come mosh pit with you and Mary Jane. Sound good?" Velma quite knew what she was asking. While there was no visible drama amongst the gang to her knowledge - aside from maybe a few Fred and Daphne quarrels - the night they had figuring out the clues behind the Mysterio case seemed to take a toll on her intellect that she needed to take a breather as if on vacation. For a second, Gwen stopped and thought about her request as if getting ready to tell her some bad news.

"I'm definitely okay with that, but I reckon I'll talk with MJ and see what she thinks. Maybe meet us there or something?" Gwen asked out of concern for her friend, Harry's, opinion on the Mystery Gang. If only she knew their interactions with him to get him to calm down.

"I most certainly will!" Velma assured her. No doubt she would show up in her best Hex Girls apparel to match with them. As an observant young woman, Velma was more than capable of spotting a superfan in the crowd of a Hex Girls concert/signing. She was even able to pick out Peter Parker fleeing the scene when Mysterio showed up. Velma hoped this would come in handy for solving the mystery, much of which she shared with Gwen as they chatted away for an hour before both shut down and went to bed. Velma and the gang were confident that their defensive strategy would work for the moment no matter if Spider-Man would return to save the day - even though it seemed he always would.


	8. Hex Girls Hangout

**Author's Note:** _Hello again, readers! For now, I am returning very briefly to this story to add a chapter in the middle of the action. This was a filler chapter idea slated by my good friend and fellow collaborator, mcknight93, who gave me the idea to add more character to the Hex Girls. The purpose of this chapter does just that. Having seen_ Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost _in recent months, I was heavily inspired by it to make this chapter and it certainly shows here. Enjoy this little filler chapter while I prepare bigger and better stuff for future stories!_

 _Also, shoutout to mcknight93! If you're reading this I want to say thanks for giving me this idea and for being an assistant in fixing the last few chapters of the story!_

* * *

It was time for Thorn to perform her "ritual"; she stood at the penthouse kitchen counter surrounded by plants, herbs, and low lit candles. Her immediate area resembled a witch's workbench, which frankly fit her and her band's main aesthetic. Setting things right for the occasion, she mixed some ingredients into a mug sitting in front of her, poured in some weird green liquid, then lifted the mug, breathing in her "potion" deeply. After several days of using her voice to the max, she could hardly bear to let it go much longer without the peppermint and cloves drink she just made. In other words, she needed to soothe her vocal chords in order that she may put forth maximum effort at the concert the next day.

With a smack of her lips, she set the mug down with a soft thud.

"Nothing like a little peppermint and cloves to soothe my vocal chords," she commented stating the obvious. "Want some, girls?"

"No thanks," said Dusk. "Had my share before we went on tour."

"Honestly, girls, you really think this stuff's that easy?" Thorn asked as she walked over to the sofa to sit with them. Dusk and Luna were spread out on a comfy seat and the floor respectively, lounging around like the laziest people in the world. The concerts they had put themselves through wore them out big time after escaping from different foes several times that it was like something out of a dream for them to just lounge around without a care in the world.

"I like to think it's easiest for you," Luna chimed in. "You do it best out of all of us."

"Well now, if my name isn't Sally McKnight," Thorn said, using her real name for effect. "You make me sound like some singing goddess of sorts. Lemme tell ya, sister: the secret to singing lies deep within the soul. You just gotta find it within yourself."

"Yep, those are definitely the words of a goddess!" Dusk joked, fidgeting with her chopsticks.

"Hey, I don't see any big buff men trying to sit next to me day and night. Do you?"

"If it counts for something, Spider-Man seemed like he was pretty into you," Dusk puckered her lips and made kissy noises.

Thorn giggled soundly. She knew full well that Dusk was teasing. "Muffy St. James, you are the queen of all the jokes in this band if I've ever seen one!"

Dusk was rather taken aback by Thorn using her real name. Her name in particular couldn't have sounded more goth-like. "Thank you, I guess," she started. "In all seriousness, though, I feel like I could've easily saved myself without Spider-Man's help. I am grateful, but remember, I can handle anything!"

"Says you. I'm just glad he showed up to deliver us from that menace," Luna contradicted. "If there's ever a helping hand, you just ought to take it."

Thorn took another sip of her drink before rejoining the conversation. "Girls, I think we can all agree that spider guy was just as brave as the three of us combined, if not more so," Thorn stated humbly. "There's a certain charm to someone who is willing to go out of their way to save others."

"See, right there, you just admitted you like him!" Dusk pointed her chopstick at her in joking accusation.

To this, Thorn just chuckled. "Only as a hero, sister!" she responded. "Something about his charismatic image leaves a lasting impression on the average bystander."

Dusk pondered her words for a second. Suddenly, she couldn't think of a good comeback. "I guess you're right," she admitted. "I mean he seems to leave what we leave on our followers: an image they can stand and be inspired by."

Thinking of her mystery friends in that context, Thorn decided now was a good time to bring them into the conversation. "Which begs the question: what do our mystery friends have in that context?"

Dusk was just as confused by her words just as she was about herself unable to think of a decent remark. "What do they have to do with us much less Spider-Man?"

"Isn't it obvious, sister? The kids want answers on Mysterio and Spider-Man is obviously trying to take him down. They could easily benefit working together if they haven't already."

Hearing that statement alone, suddenly, Luna's thoughts snapped together. She had been thinking about the time they tried to get Mystery Incorporated more fans by simply bringing them along on their tour, though, based on the signings from the other day, such was not the case. Based on what Thorn said, though, her face signaled to everyone that she thought of a bright idea that involved the mystery guys. "Guys, you know, I just thought of something!" she sat up as she spoke.

"What's that?" Dusk turned her head to face her.

"Yeah?" Thorn asked simultaneous with Dusk.

"Well, you know how we decided to give the mystery kids their own booth, but they didn't get nearly as many fans as we did?" Luna started off with a rhetorical question. "What if they continued to work with Spider-Man? Think it could improve their image somehow?"

The girls stopped to think on Luna's idea for a moment. There was lots of potential for an improved image of Mystery Inc. if they were to find themselves allying with a big shot hero like Spider-Man. More publicity, potential for actual merch, more fans even. Working with the likes of him shouldn't have been so hard as it was the least they could think of to improve not only the lives of their friends, but their reputation as well. "Well, they are looking for at least someone to support them in the mystery-solving cause so I don't see why not," Thorn finally uttered after a few moments of openly thinking to herself.

Dusk simply giggled. "Kimberly Moss trying to persuade us again with her bright ideas," she stated sarcastically. "I don't suppose that also involves them unmasking Mysterio as some phony looking to make bank through illegal means?"

Luna folded her arms, fed up somewhat with her remark all while trying to keep a straight face. This wasn't the first time one of the band members called her by her real name - they did this in private quite frequently. "Mm-hmm, sure does, sister!" she said sternly. "Besides, when have Mystery Inc.'s cases involved actual supernatural stuff we see in TV and movies?"

"I guess… well, never," Dusk admitted. Just about none of the recent cases involved actual ghosts.

"Glad you're willing to admit it at least," Thorn chimed in. "Still, remember back when we first formed in high school? The kids were in middle school and just solved a case of the vampire haunting the graveyard. Everyone thought it was actually the supernatural vampire until they caught it and revealed him to actually be their local school bully wearing some silly mask. Still, the idea of the supernatural fascinated us girls that we eventually incorporated vampire fangs into our on stage personas. And thus the Hex Girls were born!"

"Gotta love my dad for being a dentist and making us fake fangs to wear in our shows," said Luna boasting about how nicely crafted her dad was able to make their dentures for them.

"At least your dad does good for us all. I still can't get over the publicity stunt my dad pulled to bring more visitors to the Autumn Fest back in Oakhaven," Thorn said, recalling their first ever time working with the gang.

It was just a year and a half ago when the gang took a field trip with their school to Oakhaven, a suburb of Salem, Massachusetts and the Hex Girls' hometown. It was lovely the time of year they went in the autumn, the rolling hills were covered with fading, colorful trees that made for scenic shots of the town when driving in. The gang had come to witness the town's annual Autumn Festival where the Hex Girls were set to attract all sorts of tourists with their Wiccan-inspired rock songs - an idea coined by the fact that Sally was one-sixteenth Wiccan blood on her mother's side. With everything set in place, the town was suddenly attacked by what appeared to be the infamous "witch's ghost" the town had feared to be real all because of some fabled legend that the witches of years past still haunted the town as spirits. After a traditional investigation consisting of Velma examining clues, Fred and Daphne spying on Thorn to make sure she wasn't a witch, and Scooby and Shaggy dining on two orders of everything at the local restaurant, the so-called "witch's ghost" was revealed to be a fabricated act set up by Joseph McKnight, Sally's father, of which he had gotten the residents of the town to help him with in order to attract more tourists to the Autumn Festival. The act was unsuccessful as it landed him twenty-five years in prison, a statement of which Sally never got over.

Still, her friends were more than willing to cheer her up in spite of this unfortunate event. "Hey now, that was the past," Luna assured her. "Let's focus our attention on the now so that we can figure out how to get the gang more attention and fans back home."

"She's right you know," Dusk responded. "Maybe the gang taking down and unmasking Mysterio is what they need to boost their reputation."

"Right, but still, what about us?" Luna asked turning the subject back onto themselves. "With a guy like him still at large, he's most easily a threat to our business and the way we roll."

"Don't be so sure he'll take us down so easy," Thorn reassured her girls. "If, in fact, he decides to show himself once more at the concert tomorrow, I promise you that I'll be the one to keep us protected at all costs!"

Dusk and Luna's faced perked up with hopeful expressions lining their faces. "I mean sure, yeah, I suppose that's the least we can do is protect each other from whatever happens next," Luna responded casually.

"Of course. Besides, Dusk here's a black belt who's always willing to fight us all out of a situation," Thorn continued, pointing to her best, and only drummer she ever had and knew she could rely on for physical combat purposes. There were plenty of instances in the past where Dusk's knowledge of Chinese Kenpo got them out of tough situations with the supposed "ghosts" that kept harassing them and, in Thorn's eyes, Dusk wasn't about to let them all down.

"It's true," Dusk followed. "If given the chance, I could easily shatter Mysterio's bubble brain with a swift kick to the head."

"You and what army, sister?" Luna asked jokingly. This was the part where they generally started ramping up the jokes despite the serious situation and their genuine concern for one another.

"Now, now, girls, let's remember why we're all trying to protect one another in the first place," Thorn stated, reeling the situation back to the point. "No matter what, the show must go on!"

"You're right, sister!" Dusk exclaimed, putting her hand out in the middle of everyone. "Hex Girls for life!"

Thorn giggled. "Hex Girls for life!" Thorn said, positioning her hand above her followed by Luna who joined them. In the style of a baseball team proclaiming their unity, they sealed the deal with a break as they launched their hands up into the air. Whether Spider-Man were to show up and save the day or not, the band always knew they would have each other's backs and nothing would stand in the way of that. They would always stay unbreakable until the very end.

* * *

 **Thanks again everyone for reading this shorter chapter that, while not adding much to the story, adds more to each Hex Girls' personality if I do say so myself! Don't say I didn't try my best with this being my first story and all! I hope you all enjoy what little more I may add here down the line!**


	9. Mysterio Strikes Again

"Hello, Coolsville! This is Velma Dinkley of Mystery Inc. coming at you live from the Hex Girls concert in New York!" Velma announced excitedly toward her camera. She pointed her camera at and zoomed in on the band on stage as they played "It's A Mystery" passionately alongside each other. "I _love_ these girls and so do my friends here!"

Velma pointed the camera at Gwen, her newest groupie, nearby as she headbanged to music alongside MJ. "Woohoo! Rock on, Hex Girls!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"We're so passionate we put all other superfans to shame!" Velma boasted, believing her the Hex Girls shirt she wore over her sweater to be a symbol of pride and fangirlism. From there on she hardly cared about what she was filming and let it play while she bounced with absolute joy in her system. For that matter, her team didn't care about her hanging out with somebody else.

Neither party really did for any reason.

After the previous night's discussion, Velma had received approval to hang out with MJ and Gwen during the concert. Despite the latter two being Peter Parker's friends, she got no backlash from her own team or the friends of her new friends. Well, except from Harry maybe. Little did Velma know of the jealousy that had been plaguing Peter's best friend, Harry. For good reason, MJ chose to leave this detail out for the sake of keeping secrets safe amongst her friend group. Neither party would have wanted the other's secrets getting out so easily.

While the three nerd girls partied about in the mosh pit, setting themselves up for potential broken bones, Peter and Harry stood aside from the action. Harry tried not to let his grudge against Mystery Inc. get in the way of enjoying this day. In order to prevent anything nasty from occurring, he chose not to even say "hi" to Velma the moment she joined up with the girls. _Look at them having fun,_ Harry thought lividly. _First my best friend, now my gal pals?! What is this world coming to?_

Despite his internal feelings, Harry knew to keep it light on the outside as he turned to his best friend. "Hey, Pete! You hungry?" he shouted over the music, generously offering to feed him as if out of remorse for the day before.

Peter looked down to read his stomach, which growled a bit with a hollow noise. "All systems ready to eat, Harr!" Peter joked as if taking influence from the snack eaters of Mystery Inc. "Maybe a corn dog?"

"Sure thing! I'll pay," Harry offered, playing into his rich allowance his dad gave him recently. With a thanks from Peter, Harry turned to walk away toward the concessions, confident that Scooby and Shaggy wouldn't already be there pigging out and holding up the line. Believing this, he remained hopeful that nothing would change in the few minutes it took for him to buy.

* * *

Backstage was hopefully the best spot for the rest of Mystery Inc. to keep a watchful eye on Prezette's remote until the end of the show. Since they had control of it, the special effects team resorted to a traditional way of producing the visuals from the sound booth. With security tightened around the newly designated concert area, the team in charge remained optimistic that Mysterio wouldn't find his way back in to wreck the place.

For Fred, however, his biggest concern was the idea that Peter Parker may not have wanted to be on the team.

"You know considering we never saw Peter Parker the other day, I'm starting to think maybe he just bailed on us for some reason," he told Daphne, shouting over the music as he held the remote.

"And what makes you think so?" Daphne questioned for some reason.

"I mean he seemed fine when we first met him, but to be under the weather just like that? That's a bit unusual if I say so."

"Fred, colds come up unexpectedly all the time," Daphne reassured him somewhat scoldingly. "I think you're reading too much into this."

"It's at the heart of every mystery solver to figure out what's really going on."

"I know, but even so, we still don't know what's with Mysterio yet," Daphne reminded him. At that point something had caught Fred's eye, confusing Daphne somewhat. "Hello? Earth to Fred!" She looked out to notice he wasn't staring at who she thought he was, but rather Peter Parker standing near the front row. To him, this was an opportunity to discuss whether he was still interested in joining their team.

"There's Peter Parker right now," he pointed out to everyone. "I think I'll go ask him what's up. You guys can take care of the remote, okay?"

And just like that, Fred took off, leaving the remote in a concerned Daphne's hands while Scooby and Shaggy continued to dance energetically to the music.

* * *

As Peter Parker stood in front of the stage, book bag containing his costume in hand, he had slowly, but surely begun to appreciate the Hex Girls a little more. Ever since Gwen and the others played him their album on their way to the signing, their music had grown on him to the point where it was actually kind of catchy to him. He was tapping his foot to the rhythm as if beginning to finally learn the song by heart. Just when he really started to get into it, though, he had his groove broken up by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Peter. It's me, Fred, from Mystery Inc." the voice of Fred Jones rang to him nearby. His buff figure slid into his view, exciting him yet somewhat putting him on edge.

"Of course, I remember you, Fred. Who could forget the leader of Mystery Inc.?" Peter complimented.

"I am pretty hard to forget," Fred said, swooshing his blond hair. "More importantly, I was wondering if you forgot about our planned mystery solving steakout."

"Forgot? No way!" Peter responded jokingly. "Didn't my aunt tell you I was sick?"

"Well, she did and I must say it made us all very concerned. We were just wondering if you weren't interested in joining us all of the sudden. Our offer still stands you know."

Peter stood there, feeling in a tight spot to think of how to respond in a way that didn't expose his secret identity. With the recent steakout he performed as Spider-Man, he couldn't just tell him he was there in secret. They might play into their mystery solving ways and figure out it was him the whole time. "Well, I… was really looking forward to it, but I had a lot of other homework to take care of so I had to skip."

"You had to skip out? You could've just told us that and we'd have understood," Fred suggested.

"I know, I know. I told my aunt to tell you that, but she must've changed the excuse on me. Wasn't she holding soup or something?"

"Well, she _was_ holding soup then," Fred gestured into a reminiscing position when his eyes darted down toward Peter's bag. Right there, before his eyes, he spotted red and blue fabric poking out of his bag similar to that of Spider-Man's suit. Panicked, Peter seemed to realize where he was looking and quickly shoved it under the bag's flap.

"Right, soup-soup…" he trailed off hastily trying to avoid a potential confrontation. "Um, what were we talking about?"

* * *

"You guys take care of the remote, I'm gonna go… take a look at… what's going on out there," Daphne told the guys, trying to come up with an excuse as to what she was doing. She then handed Scooby the remote.

"Like, we won't let you down, Daphne!" Shaggy saluted her, not caring about what she was doing.

"Watchman, Scooby-Doo, reporting for duty!" Scooby joked, saluting with his owner.

"Good work, boys," Daphne encouraged them, giving them a thumbs up as she strode out of the area. She was more curious as to what Fred was telling Peter since she couldn't really decipher what they were saying from backstage. Plus, she had to make sure he wasn't slacking off trying to solve the mystery for a change. It wasn't like Fred to take his eyes off the prize so she hoped he wasn't starting now. Before she could take two steps, however, she was met with an electric shock that stunned her almost instantly. With the drop of her eyelids, she slumped toward the floor her unconscious body falling with a bone-cracking thud. Suddenly, a green gloved hand reached out from the shadows dragging her into the darkness while no one was looking.

Meanwhile, Scooby and Shaggy were too distracted to notice what happened to Daphne and were already bickering about who got to hold the remote.

"Like, Scoob, it's hard to hold the remote when you have dog paws. Here, let me hold it!" Shaggy complained. He reached for the remote in Scooby's paws only for Scooby to whisk it away.

"What would you know about paws? We don't need your greasy hands all over this… fine piece of art," Scooby said caressed the remote. Before he could react, Shaggy planted his hands on the edge and grabbed it, nearly yanking it away.

"What we _need_ is for someone to hold her steady and _not_ get their dog slobber all over it!" Shaggy forcefully uttered all while trying to pull it away.

"Slobber, blobber, Shaggy!" Scooby remarked sassily. The two struggled to take the remote away from one another, commencing an impromptu tug of war between man and man's best friend that could have easily split the remote in two. In doing so, the remote actually slipped their grip, tumbling through the air and landing in the shadowy corner near the red curtain. Exchanging shocked glances, they both dove for the remote simultaneously, both of them determined not to let it slip their grip again. Unfortunately, just as they both hit the ground clasping their hands together, the remote _did_ slip their grip again as if being dragged into the darkness by an invisible string.

"Like, what?!" Shaggy squeaked, knowing that in some way, the place was being haunted.

From where they sat on the floor, a green lightning bolt lit up the area with a flash, revealing the dome-like silhouette of Mysterio standing authoritatively over them. Seeing this, the two of them exchanged frightened glances and shrieked in fear when all of the sudden a grey cloud electrified by green lightning bolts appeared over Mysterio completely lighting up the shadowy place. The area was now illuminated bright enough to where a pair of twin dragons surrounding him became visible, bearing the same color scheme and furiousness as their master.

"You think you are so clever as to keep this remote away from _me_?" Mysterio taunted. "Well, now I shall demonstrate what more it can do! Dracones impetum!" Listening to his Latin command, the dragons began to swarm Scooby and Shaggy nearly petrifying them with all their beastliness.

"Like, zoinks! It's Mysterio!" Shaggy screamed his usual frightened catchphrase.

"Run!" Scooby wailed, feeling the adrenaline kick into his doggish nervous system.

At the moment the duo immediately reconciled from their previous quarrel, got up from their downed positions, and darted away from the dragons breathing green fire toward them. Seeing their would be victims sprinting away, the dragons roared as Mysterio began to levitate with them, carrying his storm cloud he had summoned. With furious pursuit, the dragons followed Mysterio's command of pointing his finger and following Shaggy and Scooby out onto front and center stage where they seemed to be heading. For Mysterio, this seemed to be the perfect time to strike.

* * *

"Right, so about that red and blue wall-crawler-" Fred attempted to ask Peter before he interrupted.

"Wh-what? Wait! What wall-crawler? I don't know what you're talking about," Peter commented nervously.

It was at this point that Peter felt the need to look around for a way out of the conversation in a way that wouldn't come off as rude or impolite. Suddenly, the crowd in front of him began to jostle by a figure in dark red baggy pants and a green shirt with his brown great dane. Undoubtedly, this was Shaggy and Scooby, the two of them hyperventilating while effectively saving Peter from Fred's interrogation. "Fred… Peter… like… Mysterio!" Shaggy managed to get out in between breaths.

"What?!" Peter exclaimed.

"It sounded like he said 'Mysterio'!" Fred deduced.

Just then, a pair of deafening roars took the audience by surprise, turning them in the direction of the curtains backstage. Soon as Peter, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby turned in the direction from which the sounds were emanating, a pair of twin dragons appeared hovering toward the back of the stage, flapping their wings, which subsequently stirred up the air surrounding the crowd standing toward the front. Determined to keep the concert going, the Hex Girls ignored the noticeable change in scenery gusts of wind around and continued to play their song, "Good Bad Girls", blissfully unaware of what stood behind them. Everyone, save for Scooby and Shaggy, stood in amazement and started cheering thinking it was part of the show's special effects.

"Some special effects they have," Peter noted, trying to lighten the mood and change the subject. "These girls rock!"

"I don't think those are special effects," Fred suspected, playing into his sleuth side. The special effects weren't even supposed to be that good because Prezette's remote was being watched over. But then Scooby and Shaggy were present and hyperventilating claiming that Mysterio was nearby. And, if so, what happened to Daphne? Fred kept wondering, worried for what could have become of her.

The dragons turned toward one another, crossing streams of green fire up into the air before turning their heads down toward the stage, setting part of it up in flames. Seeing this, the crowd began to scream and scatter for fear of getting roasted at their favorite band's concert. It was at that moment that the crackling of flames got the band's attention, forcing Thorn to mess up her guitar notes and stop playing to look back at the sight unfolding behind her. Dusk and Luna followed her, taking their hands off their instruments and turning around to witness everything go up in flames around them. Each of them bearing a terrified expression, the three of them immediately threw down their instruments and accessories without second thoughts, and hopped off stage for their own safety into the scattering crowd.

Appalled, Peter noticed the color scheme of the dragons as well as the fact that he felt no real heat aura given off by the flames. _I knew it! This_ is _the work of Mysterio!_ Peter thought as he ran off away from Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby. With no other choice, he ignored their pleas to come back and darted for cover, determined to change into his alter-ego and put a stop to what was happening.

Just as Peter ran out of sight, Fred and the others witnessed the domed figure responsible predictably appear in full, walking through the flames with his cape wrapped around him: Mysterio. "I warned you that your music would bring the world to misery, Hex Girls!" Mysterio announced throwing his cape open to reveal his green jumpsuit. "Now you all shall face judgment!"

From within the crowd, the Hex Girls stared at their attacker, startled that the same wizard was at it again even after they moved locations from the NYC Arena. The three of them banded together to escape through the crowd, each of them sprinting away in high heels hoping that the freak wouldn't catch them. Before they could make it to the exit, however, a wall of green fire appeared surrounding them in the center of the arena, engulfing their surroundings and effectively trapping them amidst the chaos. Ever so predictably, Mysterio and his dragons hovered overhead in the most impending position possible.

"Only now in the midst of this chaos do you realize just how worthless you all are," Mysterio taunted. "Smite them, brethren!"

Around them, the flames began to mold and take shape into a series of look-alikes, their domed heads masking their determination and their capes trailing behind them. The closer they got, the more apparent it became that their surroundings were turning into an army of Mysterio clones, each donning the same look as the original. Believing themselves to be defenseless, the Hex Girls held each other's hands tightly as if accepting their fate.

"Just get behind me, girls," Thorn proclaimed in their defense. She held their hands tightly bracing for impact. Still, she had no idea what she was doing as she had no experience in martial arts like Dusk did. What she wouldn't give to learn a thing or two from her in the next few seconds before they got slaughtered or whatever it was they were about to do to them.

Just then, out of the corner of their eyes, a red and blue blur swung in heroically on a webline, web-shooting a majority of the Mysterio clones in the face. Without a doubt, Spider-Man had come to their rescue once more, the Web-head himself winking at them through his closeable white eye. Blind and confused, most of the clones began to blindly shoot a series of fireballs barraging through the air at Spider-Man, hoping to make him crumble at any moment. Making use of his Spider Sense, Spidey managed to outmaneuver any and all firepower heading his way whilst the Hex Girls ducked to avoid potentially getting shot. With the yanking of a webline, Spidey then landed in front of the girls as the clones had already begun to fully close in on them.

"Quick, one of you grab hold and I'll come back for the rest!" Spidey suggested hastily, barely knowing what he could do to save them in this instance.

Suddenly, a spark of an idea appeared to fall upon Dusk. "Not so. These guys won't be able to see this coming!" she proclaimed as she assumed a karate fighting position.

"No, Dusk, wait!" Spidey tried to warn her, but it was too late. She had already proceeded to kick one of the Mysterio copies in the chest, but her heels only put a small dent in it. Provoked, the Mysterio clone took her leg and twisted it, dropping her to the ground as the rest of them began to charge more closely to their potential captures. To avoid getting trampled, Dusk rolled aside to avoid their oncoming feet and turned around to witness Spidey brawling with several of them at once. In a series of spectacular maneuvers, he punched, kicked, and twisted each and every robot in sight, effectively taking off their arms, legs, and heads in piles of what appeared to be prosthetic limbs. From their severed parts also emerged sparks and traces of technology he hadn't quite seen yet, which he somehow managed to notice in the midst of the commotion.

"Robots?" Spidey assumed. "To think I used to like them as a kid!"

Spidey grabbed one of the Mysterio bots and tossed it into another, throwing it to the ground. Rapidly, he searched the chaos for Dusk lying on the ground, yet she seemed to be nowhere from what he could tell. The Mysterio clones just kept coming, surrounding Spidey and the remaining Hex Girls on all fronts until the Hex Girls were obscured from his visible sight. The remaining robot bodies began warmly enclosing him in walls of green and purple on all fronts, completely obscuring any and all views of the outside world. If this was how Spidey was going out, he didn't want to be mangled at the seams. Thinking smart, he shot out several webs shots on all sides, engrossing himself up in a wall of webs until he wrapped himself in an entire cocoon. For a moment, he was concealed in a tiny web igloo stopping all the Mysterio bots dead in their tracks confused as to where their foe went. In an instant, the web cocoon went off like a bomb, wiping out the remaining Mysterio bots within the vicinity and freeing Spider-Man.

"Spider powers, I love you!" Spidey complimented himself, staring at his web shooters on his wrist.

"Rejoice not, Spider-Man," Mysterio announced from overhead. "For your Hex Girl friends are no longer anywhere within our sight!"

"What did you do?!" an enraged Spidey fired back at his foe.

"A magician - much more an Arcane wizard - never reveals his secrets!" Mysterio remarked cleverly. "Dracones impetum!"

Spidey webbed his way up toward Mysterio, only to be met with the freak wizard vanishing in a cloud of green smoke. Clumsily, this caused his pulled punch to become connected with nothing more than the air where he once stayed afloat.

"What the-" Spidey exclaimed, stopping himself in mid sentence and midair.

Almost immediately, the dragons began to breathe fire, crossing streams and forcing him to create a webline to zip himself toward the ground. After tumbling to catch his footing, he then shot a web up to the domed stage - which mysteriously hadn't burned down despite the flames - evading the emerald flames in hopes to get a jump on the dragons. In the midst of all this, he wondered where on Earth the Hex Girls had been taken or where Mysterio went. Because of the loose ends this fight created, Spidey was rather disheartened by the fact that Mysterio managed to outsmart him so much, especially now that the crowd's favorite band was being hauled off to who knows where. Without a doubt, Gwen and MJ were probably sobbing over what may as well be the Hex Girls' funeral. Even so, he wouldn't give up no matter what. With a pair of twin dragons on the loose, there was no telling what damage they would do to the city, much less the vicinity, if he ignored them and moved on.

He had to stop the crime in progress.

Circling around, he connected a webline to one of the dragons, latching onto it as he zoomed toward it. Kicking out his legs, he delivered a kick causing it to roar in pain. For a split second he noticed he had put a dent in its side through which there shown a mechanical wiring system. _Just my luck_ , Spidey thought cleverly to himself.

Landing on the other dragon's side, Spidey ran across it before it could notice and webbed the wounded one in the eyes, blinding it from its vision. The mechanical beast bellowed trying to shake it off before Spidey Web Struck its side once more and attached himself to its torso. Digging into the wires he found, he pulled out the first piece of tech that looked important from its residing spot. "Bingo!" he exclaimed. The dragon's holographic appearance faded out into a literal mechanical beast that, due to the malfunctioning appliance, caused it to collapse toward the ground. In the split second it took for him to use Spider Sense on the surrounding area, Spidey realized there were still scattering civilians beneath him. Knowing that if they died, he would never forgive himself for this tragedy. Quickly analyzing the walls in the area around him, Spidey thought quickly to utilize a series of web nets around the area surrounding the stage - thankfully, they were there or else he would have almost no support to attach his webs to. With a bounce, the webs kept the crumbling dragon-like robot from falling to the ground and crushing whoever could have been underneath it.

* * *

Having held her eyes shut bracing for impact, Velma opened her eyes the moment she saw the technological beast loom overhead covered by a series of web-like nets. Upon getting up from her crouched position, she examined the net of webs knowing it was caused by none other than Spider-Man, whom she already noticed flying overhead to try and stop the monstrosities. Were it not for him, she could have easily been crushed by the falling debris.

The one thing she wondered about the robot dragon, though, was how it was flying in the first place. Now that this dragon had been revealed to be fake, she wondered curiously who could have put together an impressive contraption.

Before she could ponder any questions she had, though, her thoughts were broken up by the screams of what sounded like her new besties standing near the entrance. Instantly, she turned her head to find that they, too, were enclosed in a ring of fire along with a load of civilians, the one remaining robotic dragon blocking them from exiting the enclosed arena. "Mary Jane! Gwen!" she shouted for them. Knowing this dragon was dangerous, though, she remained in place not wanting to rush toward them and put herself in danger.

A sense of mounting panic filled the girls as they shook alongside the few other civilians struggling for life, each of them staring up at the dragon flapping its wings overhead. Seeing this as their potential fate, Gwen and MJ reached for the other's shoulders, embracing each other as they shivered together for fear of this being their last moments.

"Gwen, just so you know, I used your makeup to prep myself for today!" MJ confessed out of fear of taking this secret to the grave with her.

"That's funny 'cause this is actually your Hex Girls shirt, not mine!" admitted Gwen, knowing that this could be the only time they had to share each other's secrets before they got fried to death.

In the few seconds it took for the dragon to huff a huge breath of fire, burst of white frost hit its eyes, blinding it and causing its fire breath to die down in an instant. From the edge of the fire circle - half of which had been burned away by the foam - Scooby-Doo and his owner, Shaggy, came rushing in with a pair of fire extinguishers they found near the exit. Despite his traditional cowardice, Scooby had this surprising tendency to man up to defend his friends - even his friends' friends - and encourage Shaggy to do the same.

And so they continued to spray enough foam at the circle of fire surrounding them until it began to disappear. Seeing them as their heroes in this situation, the crowd including Gwen and MJ cheered and rooted them on keep putting out the fire as long as the dragon was distracted. Before they knew it, their surroundings were clear and the crowd was now free to exit the arena without getting themselves burned. Waving their hands and cheering, Gwen and MJ followed the crowd out of the arena knowing that they were safe. Despite this, they stood behind and turned around to witness the fight ensuing overhead.

Believing this to be their most proud moment, Scooby and Shaggy nodded toward each other.

"Now what do you say we teach that dragon a lesson?" asked Shaggy excitedly.

"Right!" Scooby affirmed turning around.

Just as he turned around, however, he noticed that, in the midst of their heroics Spider-Man had arrived to wrestle with the dragon in midair. Noticing the foam gone from its eyes, Scooby was scared yet excited that his hero was fighting the dragon for him.

"Reah, Rider-Man!" Scooby cheered, hoping for the best outcome possible.

After putting his knee and fist into the dragon's chest, Spidey ultimately managed to slice right through the dragon's center with all his super strength, causing its fake exterior to vanish. The remaining tech fell to the ground away from the crowds, which had stayed behind to witness the fight. Knowing that the area was clear this time around, Spidey simply allowed the robotic dragon to fall in a pile of machines toward the ground, crashing with an Earth-shaking thud that jolted everyone watching awake. Looking away from the machine bursting into sparks behind him, Spidey turned toward Scooby, Shaggy, Gwen, and MJ to face them and let out a signature quip.

"And that, my friends, is how the princes win over the princesses," Spidey quipped to his fanboys.

The crowd surrounding him cheered as Spidey bowed, proud to have received some recognition for his heroics despite failing to capture bad guy and rescue the band from imminent danger.


	10. Welcome to the Fallout

In the aftermath of frantically stopping Mysterio's pet dragons and the crowd attention he got afterward, Peter ran for a secluded area, changed back into his civilian clothes, and walked back to the ruined vicinity of the concert. Knowing it was it ruins as of now was the least of his worries for he wondered whether all of his friends made it out okay. He could have sworn he saw Gwen and MJ standing amongst the crowd he saved on his way out, yet there was no sign of Harry since he left him to get a corn dog. On top of that, four to five ambulances lined the barricaded area, indicating to Peter that some people had been injured in this encounter much to his remorse. Wishing he could somehow save everyone, a weight practically lifted off his shoulders once he dug his way through the crowd to find Gwen and MJ standing at the entrance of the outdoor arena, unharmed, and nervously playing with their hair. Despite his relief, Peter could sense as if through Spider Sense that Gwen didn't look too happy for as soon as she saw him, she let go of her hair and folded her arms.

"MJ! Gwen! What happened here?!" Peter asked them both trying to fake knowing what happened.

"What happened? Why not ask your injured friend, Harry?" Gwen scolded.

 _Harry's injured?_ Peter thought to himself. _Oh, gosh. This is all my fault!_ All in an instant, a weight fell onto Peter's conscience. He was basically at a loss for words though he knew he had come up with an explanation for fear of sounding fake. "Wait, I can explain-"

"Explain, what?" Gwen interrupted. "How you ditched him like you always do and let his leg get crushed while he was getting you a corn dog?! Some best friend you are!"

Peter couldn't believe how fired up Gwen was over his simple absence. He knew Gwen to be feisty on multiple occasions, but this was, by far, the most infuriated he had ever seen her. Was this the end of him being respected amongst his old friends?

"Let me handle this, sister," MJ butted in, seemingly cooling her down like Iceman would by planting her hand on her shoulder. "He's very hurt. He broke his leg tripping on and getting caught under some debris. You should probably go talk to him; see if he'll be okay."

There came a tense atmosphere as Peter looked around through the crowd ahead of them full of paramedics trying to wheel at any and all injured patrons. No one died from what he gathered, and yet still the thought of seeing his best friend injured shot a wave a panic through him as if he were being electrocuted by Electro. He finally noticed Harry's red hair as paramedics were carrying him out on one of those stretchers towards the nearest ambulance. As if he weren't already feeling guilty enough, he was struck with even more guilt over the mere sight of his best friend writing in pain all because his alter-ego was too busy to protect him. Of course, he couldn't tell him those exact words for personal reasons, but he knew he had to do something.

Bucking up every ounce of courage he had to speak to him, he pushed all guilty feelings aside, took a breath, and took a step toward Harry. It took some coordinated maneuvering to get through the paramedics, but he finally made it to his side. "Harry! I'm sorry you got hurt and-"

"Zip it, Pete! I saw you talking to one of those mystery kids on my way back from getting you a corn dog!" Harry furiously interrupted, causing Peter's stomach to lurch. Of course, Fred had to make his presence obvious with his classy colors and buff build.

"Harry, I-"

"Don't! Don't even try! If you won't honor my friendly request then I can't be your pal anymore! We're done!" Harry declared angrily whilst he was being loaded into the ambulance. Knowing this had been the worst time to get caught, Peter simply couldn't believe himself. He had lost a friend all because another friend approached him to talk to him about a proposition. If that truly was the case, then there may have been no recovering from this one. And so, he hung his head in shame knowing that he essentially broke their agreement.

From behind, MJ and Gwen approached him calmly, MJ laying her hand on his back. "How'd it go, Tiger?"

"Not good. He saw me talking to Fred earlier and thought I did it on purpose. Now he says we're not friends anymore. I just don't get it! Here I am trying to make new friends and he thinks I'm not gonna be his best friend anymore. I know he has dad issues and all, but to take it to this extreme…" Peter rattled before trailing off. He almost didn't know what to say next knowing this was often where MJ would interject sympathy into their conversation.

"Give it time, Tiger. He may not have known what he was saying. You remember when you boys used to roll around on the floor fighting until you got carpet burn and he blamed you for it?" MJ said, reminding Peter of the days in which they were just innocent middle school boys wrestling.

"I do, but that was just for fun. This time he seemed pretty serious. I feel like he might never forgive me now," Peter mused pessimistically.

"Don't you dare talk like that! There's more to this friendship than you think. If he were to abandon you just like that, would you do the same?"

Hearing this, Peter nodded, rekindling a small amount of hope that this could potentially turn around.

"If that's the case here, then maybe before he's out of the hospital I'm sure he'll see things differently," MJ laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled to which Peter then reciprocated. There was a warmth to her touch that made everything somehow seem okay. The moment he stared into her deep blue eyes was the moment he felt like everything was going to be okay. No amount of guilt or remorse could have possibly amounted to the reassurance she provided him in this very moment. And for that, Peter wanted to share major affection to the one he knew he could trust.

Before he could speak, however, the three of them were approached by a fit, white haired man in his fifties donning a police uniform that Peter would recognize anywhere: Captain George Stacy. After the same mastermind behind both Hex Girls concert attacks struck a second time, he undoubtedly had to make sure everyone, especially his daughter was okay. Much to his relief, she was, but he also had to be present at the investigation too.

"You two lovebirds doing okay?" the man asked concerningly. He knew the first thing ought to be to make sure every uninjured person within the vicinity hadn't been harmed in any way.

"Present and accounted for, sir!" Peter responded cleverly. His relationship with the captain couldn't have been more humorous at times.

"Glad to know you and my daughter are safe, son," George commented much to the sarcastic dismay of his said daughter.

"Hello, MJ's here too!" Gwen snarked, her dad completely understanding what she was on to.

"Not to worry, all have been accounted for. Injuries, escaped patrons, confiscated items, you name it. Except then there's a band of four teenagers and a dog back there that insist on staying, claiming that 'Spider-Man will show up' to help them investigate," the captain revealed much to Peter's shock.

Of course, he should've suspected it, but then he didn't realize that Fred, Velma, and Shaggy had left a few more texts for him in the time he took to be Spider-Man and come back as himself. Without even reaching into his pocket, he subtly looked at his phone, not bothering to even read what they said for fear of revealing his secret identity to everyone in the vicinity. Still, he couldn't just tell the captain all this either since he didn't seem to know. Right then, he thought maybe to buy his way in to help them despite the fact that he just lost Harry for interacting with them. What would it ever matter though? He wouldn't know in the long run.

"Um, sir, I happen to know those kids. They're Mystery Incorporated from Coolsville, Ohio. Ever heard of them?" Peter asked optimistically.

"A bunch a mystery solving sleuths from out of town hardly escapes my attention. I practically thrive on observing their tactics to improve the efforts of my own men in the unit," the captain stated firmly. Captain Stacy was the least likely to have been a fan much to Peter's surprise.

"Well, they were sort of… hoping to help me with field notes for mystery solving. They worked with Spider-Man the other day. Could they possibly make another exception with me in tail?" Peter pleaded, hoping he didn't give away any clues as to who he was.

The captain thought long and hard about his wants, diligence, and demeanor. If he needed another hand, surely Peter could be the man they needed for the job. Plus there was his oath he still stood by under any circumstances. He ultimately gave a nod of approval. "Just this once, you can help them and they can help you. They may not be police official, but if they're with Spider-Man, they're definitely in good hands."

Peter smiled, throwing up his fist and shouting "Yes!" He then shook his hand avidly. "Thank you so much, sir! I really owe you one!"

"Don't mention it, son," he leaned in to whisper closely to him. "And I mean not to anyone from the presses or Jameson. Got it?"

"Will do, sir!" he affirmed him before thanking him and giving him a pat on the back. This was a pact he would no doubt follow for life knowing he and his mystery solving friends. Leaving his friends behind, he then proceeded to walk back with him into the outdoor arena, which was now littered with pieces of robots from the previous skirmish - including, but not limited to, the dragon robot's endoskeleton sitting there in a haunting state of disrepair as Peter examined it. Once they reached the crowd of uniformed cops arguing with the colorful gang of meddling kids - sans Daphne for reasons no one knew about - Peter and George broke up the dispute by stepping in and proclaiming they're with them and Spider-Man. The gang stood back and watched them debate over what they would do for the next minute of two. When the cops asked why Spider-Man wasn't there to help, they gave him compliments for his previous heroics, stating "The Web-head swung off to stop more serious crimes in progress." And so, with enough persuasion and encouragement from the cops, Peter split off from Captain Stacy to join his fellow mystery solvers. Seeing as they just did him a favor, the gang smiled at Peter for his persuasive tactics and began to investigate the aftermath of the crime scene, confident that Mysterio wouldn't return to wreak havoc.

"So what'd you figure out since last time?" Peter asked as he walked with the four of them toward the stage. "And where's Daphne?"

"We've figured out a lot since last time, but Daphne's gone missing!" Velma exclaimed of great concern. "I wasn't backstage and I haven't seen her since!"

Meanwhile, Fred was noticeably panicked, fidgeting as if antsy to find Daphne to make sure she wasn't hurt. "We-we gotta find Daphne! I can't bare to live without her!" he exclaimed almost hopelessly, hyperventilating simultaneously. To Velma and everyone else, this was one of the few times he showed emotion for anything other than traps.

"Easy, pretty boy!" Velma laid a hand on him. "We'll get to it eventually. Right now we gotta figure out what these robot dragon things were."

"Like, they were robots?!" Shaggy asked, startled by the revelation. "Zoinks!"

"Robots are almost scarier than monsters!" Scooby commented rather disheartened.

"I know, they could easily take over the world any moment if we're not careful," Velma snarked causing Scooby to cling to Shaggy's side, whimpering and shivering together with his owner. "Anyway, now that we're done scaring, let's get to caring. Fred and I will investigate out here while you all look for Daphne."

"And by that you mean me, Scooby, and Shaggy, right?" Peter asked with concern for the duo's well-being.

"You said it, Mr. Parker!" Velma gave him props. "Say, what made you decide to join us today of all days?"

"I happened to be nearby at the concert and Fred asked me if I was still interested so I took the opportunity!" Peter explained, making excuses as usual.

"But you left us earlier right before Spider-Man showed up," Fred noted. "It was all so coincidental that-"

"Yeah, I don't really enjoy magic shows that much so I left. Sorry I must have missed Spider-Man," Peter lied trying to cover his tracks. "Come on, Scoob and Shag, let's go!"

Peter hastily walked out of there before Fred could deduce any further what he was up to. If he hadn't figured out he was Spider-Man by now, he may as well have not figured out at all for the sake of his own safety. As Peter walked away with the team cowards, Fred winced as he then turned to investigate the robotic dragon and Mysterio clone wreckages with Velma.

* * *

Backstage, Scooby, Shaggy, and Peter investigated every part of the area, turning over props and everything in search of their faithful companion, Daphne. As Scooby sniffed with his dog nose, little did he realize that Peter was actually utilizing Spider Sense to blanket the area like he usually did in his superhero identity. In the back of his mind, he almost knew how crushed they would be to find out it was just him under that mask. Hopefully, he would keep it that way.

Through his infrared-like vision, Peter continued to scan the area until he was finally able to make out a silhouette of a girl through a blank, locked door. Everything about it matched Daphne's and so he was more than certain it was her. Even though he could most certainly pretend he to have a hunch, he couldn't look too good in front of his biggest fans.

He reached forward as if to shake hands with the door and rattled it to simulate Daphne bashing up against the door. "Guys, I think she's in here!" he yelled out fakely, yet somehow convincingly. This perked up Scooby and Shaggy to where they ran over to assist their new friend. "Help me get this door open, okay?"

"Like, you got it, Pete!" Shaggy affirmed.

"Haven't you heard? Only my friends call me Pete," Peter joked with him.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, like, I consider you a friend too!" Shaggy reassured his new friend.

"Reah, me too!" Scooby repeated.

"That's good, guys," he said patting Scooby on the head. "Now on the count of three. One, two-"

Before he could reach the 'three', the three of them were already pulling on the door in an effort to bust it open without trying too hard. However, the door seemed to be locked from their side, leaving them with no success.

"Must be locked," Peter noted.

"Oh, well, we tried," Shaggy said, giving up almost on the spot.

"You know what? I think we need to try another way," Peter suggested not wanting to give up while also kind of pep talking to his friend and his dog to keep trying. "Stand back everyone!"

Scooby and Shaggy backed away as Peter assumed a running start position as if he were about to break down the door single handedly. Collectively, Shaggy and Scooby shrugged at each other, wondering how on Earth he was going to pull this off. Even in their somewhat illogical, cartoonish thinking brains, they each had their doubts about Peter being able to break open a door single handedly. They couldn't even break open any of those classy pop bottles from the ads they saw regularly on TV. Suddenly, as if not even trying, Peter charged into the door, ramming it with all his might, breaking it off the hinges and causing it to fall inward, leading the light into the dark room.

"Wow! I must really like to work out," Peter commented proudly sensing that Scooby and Shaggy were a combination of both impressed and confused right about now; he honestly didn't know how he felt about utilizing his super strength in the midst of solving a mystery as himself, though he felt as though he had no other choice. He then turned to witness Daphne in the corner of the room, all tied up in ropes across her legs and arms all while gagged in her mouth. Through the rope in her mouth, she spoke muffled as she could not get her words out without help. "Daphne!" Peter exclaimed, worried for her safety.

Peter knelt to Daphne as Shaggy and Scooby followed him into the small closet. Thinking smart, he pulled the gag from her mouth as she took a deep breath for the first time in who knows how long. "What happened? And why am I tied up back here?" Daphne questioned as if she had been unconscious prior to this moment.

"Like, after Scoob and I were fighting over the remote, you just disappeared," Shaggy explained. "Like, we thought you went to talk to Fred or something."

"Well, I seemed to have been knocked out after witnessing a fishbowl-headed man with a green lightning bolt confront me backstage," Daphne explained trying to remember the last thing she noticed.

Peter knew exactly who she was talking about. "Fishbowl head, green lightning bolt… Mysterio!"

* * *

Once the trio of Peter, Shaggy, and Scooby extracted Daphne from her hiding spot, the gang of misfits brought her to regroup with the rest of the gang. Fortunately enough, Captain Stacy stood there sternly with them, his commanding presence filling Peter with a load of reassurance.

"Captain Stacy, this girl was found backstage tied up after Mysterio attacked her. Whoever he is, he needs to be caught and jailed, sir!" Peter explained and suggested, pointing in the direction of Rykers.

"I'll file an arrest warrant soon as I can," the captain affirmed. "Tell them Mysterio's wanted on accounts of assault, abduction, _and_ property damage. And I'll make sure your parents know your safe and sound, Ms…"

"Daphne Blake, sir," Daphne politely stated her name to him.

"Very well, Ms. Blake. I'll ensure you answer a few questions later in order that we can get a good lead on where Mysterio went and what he truly looks like," the captain offered to which Daphne nodded. George then turned to round up his men. "Alright, fellas, it's time we look deeper into this case at the precinct…"

Soon as the captain trailed off, the gang turned to face each other once more.

"Glad to know Daphne's okay," Velma stated. "It seems she's always getting abducted for a change."

"Try being the one abducted, Velma. It's not as fun as you'd probably make it sound," Daphne sassed back at her.

"Oh, Daphne, I almost thought I'd never see you again! I was getting worried," Fred said aiming to take hold of her hands.

"W-were you, Fred?" Daphne asked him, surprised.

"Well… you know, it's only a matter of… how much we'd all miss you," Fred changed gears, almost afraid to express his feelings. "Can't have Mystery Inc. without you in the picture, can we?"

For a change, Daphne didn't know whether to be flattered or dismayed. Instead, knowing Fred wasn't the best expressing himself, she chose both. "I suppose we can't in face of emergency," she finally stated to which he then smiled.

Ignoring the previous exchange, Velma continued. "I deciphered a lot of the tech Mysterio left behind in the area as well as the fact that the stage didn't burn down despite all the fire everywhere. My guess is Mysterio used real robots that breathe fake simulated fire to give the illusion of a real fire."

"Like, no wonder it didn't burn down," Shaggy said.

"Reah. Daphne had have been a goner if it were real," Scooby added distressingly.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Velma stated, dismayed that Scooby and Shaggy were still contributing nothing meaningful to the conversation. "And then there's the Hex Girls' abduction. The fact that they're missing is upsetting enough, but I don't have a lead on where they could have wound up."

"We might just have to formulate a plan to track Mysterio if ever he shows up again! Until then, I think the investigation's wrapped up for today, Peter," Fred said turning to Peter.

"Hey, this was fun while it lasted! Too bad I don't have my notes with me or I'd have taken plenty backstage," Peter announced wishing he'd be able to act out his ploy convincingly.

"Notes or no notes, Parker, you can still take some at home while you're studying," Velma suggested. "That's what I'd do in any given situation."

"Thanks for the tip, Velma," Peter stated, giving her props. "I knew I could count on you guys for help!" Really he was referring to how well he had learned to investigate for clues since their first investigation together. In a way, though, he still felt like he was betraying Harry who, even though in the hospital, might have cared lots if it had been MJ or Gwen captured instead.

"Don't mention it," Fred added. "Mystery Inc.'s always got your back!"

"Might wanna hold the cliches, Fred," Peter joked. "If anything you guys should come up with a good slogan to help with publicity."

"Jinkies! Maybe that will help sell the vlogs better," Velma squeaked. "You're a genius, Peter!"

"Not a problem," Peter finished. "Anyways, I'd better get home. My aunt could be worried sick that I'm out so late after an attack in the city."

"Like, whatever you say, Pete," Shaggy commented. "Later!"

Waving, Peter walked away from the arena, proud to finally hold true to his promise to work with his favorite mystery idols as himself. As if helping them as Spider-Man wasn't thrilling enough, they got to see his face this time around and not know it was him before. Except for maybe his voice and the fact that Fred saw his costume hanging out of his bag, there was somewhat of a guarantee they could potentially figure out his identity before long. And then, of course, he broke the door with his sheer strength in front of Shaggy, Scooby, and Daphne, not realizing he wasn't in costume. It was almost as if he let the bliss of it get to his head again that he wound up revealing more clues about himself. Maybe as long as Daphne didn't notice and Scooby and Shaggy didn't use their brains, he would still be able to maintain his identity for a while longer before anyone found out.


	11. Further Investigation

**Author's Note:** _I'll keep this one short since there isn't much to say about this one._ _This is possibly my longest chapter yet since we'll be getting to the bigger stuff soon. Hope you readers enjoy!_

* * *

The next day, Peter decided to meet with Mary Jane to get some things off his chest. Between losing Harry's friendship for no reason and her supposed infatuation with Fred, there had to be some sensitivity involved or else this too could blow up in his face.

Soon as their texting conversation about meeting at the Silver Spoon ended, Peter swung his way to the middle of Queens where the diner was located. As per usual, he changed by throwing his street clothes over his spider suit and traversed around the corner to the Silver Spoon where MJ was just finishing up her latest shift. Despite uneasy feelings, he could hardly wait to see her. The bell rang as soon as he walked through the door, signaling MJ in her uniform - in which she couldn't have been more of a doll - from behind the counter as she compiled her last pile of bused dishes. Smiling at him, she waved, turned to pick up her sign out sheet, which she signed and set aside. As Peter took a seat at the second table away from the door, MJ snatched her coat from the rack and threw it on over her clothes. Without speaking a word, she mosied up to the table to sit across from him, eager to hear what he had to tell her.

"Still worked up over yesterday, Tiger?" MJ asked of concern.

Peter sat there with a glum look on his face. Just thinking about it couldn't have made him more upset. "I still can't believe he said those things and to what purpose?" Peter asked, demanding an answer. "What was he hoping to accomplish by unfriending me in real life?"

In response, MJ gently moved her hand over on top of Peter's folded hands. "Nobody who unfriends somebody really knows what they're saying at the time," MJ empathized. "The best you can do is give it time and maybe he'll see it differently."

"You told me that already yesterday and… well, I just don't see how that'll help," Peter slumped lower.

"It will, Tiger. Trust me. Gwen and I used to have our little quarrels about who got to befriend who and whatnot and, well, Harry's story is different from ours. It's only natural for boys of his kind to feel neglected and left out at the oddest of times so, maybe when he comes back, you should be with him more," MJ explained, lifting Peter's spirits somewhat. "It'll work out in time, I promise."

"You say 'promise' like it's a big thing," Peter commented as if she didn't know how to keep it. "You sure you know what you're saying?"

"I do, Tiger."

"Well, that's the thing I wanted to get from you if that's okay."

MJ looked confused as if she didn't understand what he meant. "What do you mean?"

"I just need to know something… about the Mystery Gang and all… do you and Fred sort of…?"

"Sort of, what?"

"Like, would you happen to be… wanting to… see each other maybe?" he said. Personally, he couldn't have put it any other way.

"Whoa, Tiger!" she exclaimed sarcastically. "I don't think you got what he meant by our first exchange. Fred and I just… have an appreciation for each other is all. He was just surprised to find another redhead like me in Manhattan of all places; plus, he has a way with words if you ask me."

Peter couldn't believe it; this whole time, he thought maybe MJ had a thing for Fred just based on one exchange they had together. Why else would she continue to be nice to him if it meant the end of their relationship? "You… you really mean that… there's still an 'us' in the equation?"

"Of course, Tiger," she responded for the umpteenth time. "I've never had second thoughts about you."

"Thanks, MJ. I mean, without you, there'd be no 'us', right?"

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Give the man a prize!" MJ joked.

The two took then took each other's hands and looked into each other's eyes. This was the best they ever felt close to one another. Nothing could ever replace each other in their minds for all they knew.

* * *

Nighttime was when the Mystery Gang traditionally gathered for their nightly discussion regarding the current mystery at hand, and tonight was no exception. Having gathered around the table in the girl's hotel room once more, Mystery Inc. regrouped to discuss any and all aspects surrounding the current mystery at hand. More major events happened since after their recent Mysterio encounter, but still a lot more left them scratching their heads like who might have done it all. By this point, their conversation had gotten pretty serious.

"So from what all we know, it's not Prezette and the illusions Mysterio conducts involve technology he so clearly made himself," Velma concluded. "But then one question remains: Who _is_ Mysterio and what is he planning with the Hex Girls?"

"It couldn't be Quentin Beck," Fred debunked. "The man seems to have too much time on his hands guarding the band from danger for all we know. He'd probably be the last person to suspect."

"Well, then who else could it be? Spider-Man?" Velma asked jokingly.

With a gulp, Shaggy exclaimed. "Zoinks! Not Spider-Man!"

"Anyone, but Spider-Man!" Scooby added anxiously.

"Well, I'll be honest, I do have my suspicions about the guy I've been keeping secret," Fred chimed in.

"And what would that be, Mr. Detective?" Daphne spoke up.

"He seems to know a lot about Mysterio; more than we know," Fred started adjusting his ascot. "And almost every time he appears whenever Mysterio's attacking. One thing we _do_ know is that Mysterio specializes in illusion and so, if my observation is correct, Spider-Man could just be an illusion conjured up by Mysterio to lead us into a trap! It's simple!"

"Freddy Jones!" Daphne scoffed. "Why would a nice guy like Spider-Man be something standing in front of us that doesn't really exist?!"

"Just saying a trap guy like me knows when we're about to get trapped ourselves," Fred joked about his trap obsession. This left Velma in a state of folding her arms, dismayed.

"Well then, all traps aside, I think we can all agree that Spider-Man is real, correct?" Velma asked to which everyone nodded their heads in unison. "Good, well, if my observations are correct, there is one person who may yet have a connection to Spider-Man: Peter Parker."

"Like, you mean…?" Shaggy trailed off.

"My hypothesis isn't fully formed yet, but based on the fact that Peter's run off every time there's a crime in progress, those two could be working together somehow."

Daphne stopped to question reality itself based on the fact that she folded her fist around her chin. "What makes you certain of that?"

"Well, unlike Mr. Trap of the Week here, I have a keen sense of when something fishy's running amok right in front of us!" Velma snarked, giving Fred a somewhat demeaning look.

"Hey, now, Velma, I'm observant too!" Fred fired back. "Besides, there was one peculiar detail I noticed today about Peter yesterday."

"And what might that be, Fred?" Velma questioned his sanity almost.

"Spider-Man's suit; I saw it hanging out of Peter's bag," he noted recalling their previous somewhat awkward encounter from the day before. "No doubt he was going to deliver it to him or something of the like."

"Like, and that's not all," Shaggy added. "I hate to admit it, but, like, Peter busted through the door during our investigation yesterday like it was made of paper or something."

"Reah, and somehow he found that closet before I could sniff out Daphne myself," Scooby noted as if thinking Peter had Spider Sense or something crazy like that.

 _Awww, they were thinking of me,_ Daphne thought to herself.

"Finally, you two contribute something meaningful to the conversation," Velma sassed. "Anyways, all these clues could only point to one possibility…" Velma trailed off.

"Yes?" everyone perked up in unison.

"Peter Parker and Spider-Man…" Everyone leaned in closer. "...Could somehow be closely connected."

The rest of them backed off as if no longer intrigued. "You mean to tell me they couldn't even be the same person?" Daphne questioned, somewhat concerningly.

"I haven't fully thought that far yet. Besides, what use is there jumping to conclusions when you're so close to solving the mystery?" Velma humbly admitted.

"Well, you _are_ right in that sense as it could ruin the surprise in a way," Daphne responded.

"So then what does this mean?" Fred asked, wondering if Velma would let him trap again after the last time he was so certain they wouldn't need to go about their usual tradition this time.

"I think before we trap Spider-Man and unmask him, we ought to do some further investigation," Velma said, playing into Fred's trap happy side. "Besides, we still don't know what his face looks like. So to figure that out should lead us one step closer to solving the larger mystery at hand."

"Guess this means it's time for me to pull out that best trap I've been saving for if we ever needed it," Fred said jumping up from his chair.

"Hold on, Mr. Trap Happy Pants," Velma halted him. "We need a plan for meanwhile since the Hex Girls can no longer continue their tour due to their absence."

Fred sat back down, bummed out that he couldn't get his trap date ready yet. "Right, the Hex Girls are still missing and we still don't have a plan for drawing out Mysterio with them much less finding out where they went."

"Come with me to the laptop. I have a plan!" Velma proclaimed, sparking everyone's interest. Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, and Daphne followed as she lead them to the sofa where they all gathered around in their traditional research position. With everyone gathered around Velma like usual - Daphne next to Velma on the computer with Shaggy directly behind her and Fred and Scooby staring over her other shoulder - she commenced a simulation of her plan she had already planned out. "The plan is simple; we ask those in Peter's life what all they believe he's up to half the time. This should give us clues as to his identity. Once that's done, we'll have three girls pose as the Hex Girls for the next makeup concert to lure Mysterio out into the open. Meanwhile, Fred, Shaggy, Scooby, and I will be in an alternative location trapping Spider-Man. It's foolproof!"

"Sounds like fun!" Fred exclaimed. "But then who's going to play the Hex Girls while they're away?"

"Daphne," Velma turned to her, sparking her attention. "You look most like Thorn of them all. I say you should be the lead singer while my friends, Gwen, and MJ will do backup."

Daphne winced at that last name. "You mean…?"

"Yep, I told her you have the perfect singing voice and that the girls look a lot like and are just as talented as the real deal!" Fred complimented Daphne, which still didn't get her attention.

"...Can I see you in private, Fred?" Daphne suggested yet again. This wouldn't have been the first time they really began to heat up.

"Sure thing, Daph!" Fred said as she followed him into the hallway leaving Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby to converse amongst themselves.

"So, like you were saying?" Shaggy asked her as if interested in hearing what all she had to say about him. To this, she just rolled her eyes, annoyed.

* * *

"I'm not doing the show with 'she who must not be named'!" Daphne exclaimed. "You still won't tell me whether you truly like her or not!"

"Easy, Daph," Fred assured her. "I kid you not, I haven't taken fancy in her at all."

"Oh," Daphne seemed rather relieved yet shocked at the same time. "Well, then explain the compliment you gave to her on our first day here!"

"That was literally a compliment to you, her, and _all_ redheads, Daph. I'm trying to be all-inclusive here!"

"Well, then why am I not your first choice to compliment, _Freddy_?" Daphne enforced strongly on his nickname.

Fred nearly slumped in shame. "I didn't know you felt that way, Daph. Maybe I've been too blind to see it, but… you'd be perfect for the act!"

Not what she wanted to hear, but what reason did she have to be disappointed with a compliment like that? "Oh, am I now?" she asked somewhat snarkily.

"Yeah, you have the perfect singing voice to emulate Thorn's. Like that of an angel's! And your face and stature perfectly mimics her that many won't even be able to tell the difference!"

This change in behavior for Fred was almost flattering even though she was being compared to another girl still. "Well, now… I don't know what to say. Thanks, Fred, for the compliments!"

"Don't mention it. Now then, who's to say we can't make you look like Thorn for the act tomorrow?"

"I say, we can get in touch with the Hex Girls' makeup department and see what they have in store." Daphne suggested.

For a change, it seemed like all was well with the folks of Mystery Inc. Fred and Daphne defused an almost tense situation for the time being and it looked like the plan they had was very foolproof enough to even stump a deer trapper for all Fred knew. And who knew? Maybe he and Daphne were finally beginning to see on equal terms. This might have been the start of something new.

* * *

The next day, the Mystery Machine pulled up to Peter's house bright and early, the gang inside eager to ask some questions of Aunt May. Without wanting to go as far as interrogation, the gang (mainly Velma) wrote down some questions overnight that were intended to keep their mission subtle and secretive. They did not text Peter about their arrival as that would also keep them incognito about the task at hand. Hopefully, Peter wouldn't show up and potentially ruin the surprise.

As they strolled up to Peter's front porch, questions began to rattle off in Daphne's mind about what this could potentially do for her and the gang's relationship with Peter. Would it cause them trust issues? Would it mean the internship is over? What if Peter and Spider-Man were the same person and it would cause her to lose interest in fantasizing about being with Spider-Man?

She shoved those questions aside as Fred approached the doorbell and rang it fervently for Aunt May to come out. There was a nearly deadpanned silence at the door for a quick second before they heard somebody's footsteps inside.

"Ooh, that must be them!" Aunt May's voice came muffled through the door. No doubt she must have been talking to her nephew about their gang as obsessed as with them as he was. "Be right back!"

Almost immediately, Aunt May opened the door, phone in hand as she covered the speaker to prevent the caller on the other side from hearing their exchange.

"Oh, I didn't expect to see you bunch at this hour!" Aunt May delightfully greeted them. "How are you kids today?"

"We're grand, Aunt May!" Fred assured her, taking initiative and building into the conversation in a non-threatening way. "I trust you're doing just as well yourself?"

"Absolutely delightful, Edward!" she incorrectly referred to him. "But you can call me 'Mrs. Parker' or 'May' if you so choose."

"Well, in that case, call me 'Fred' 'cause that's actually my name," he corrected her.

"Goodness!" Aunt May held her chest in shock. "I don't know why, but you remind me of Peter's old childhood friend, Eddie. Surely it must be the build and the blond hair!"

"It's alright, ma'am. I get called lots of stuff by mistake. It runs in the family."

"Well, alright then! One moment, while I finish my call to my friend, Anna Watson."

With that, Aunt May shut the door, prompting the gang to wait further to ask Aunt May some questions. As Fred scratched his square chin and Daphne began tapping her high-heeled foot while Velma just stood there patiently, Scooby and Shaggy's stomachs naturally began to growl in unison.

"Like, I'm starved, Scoob," Shaggy grasped his barren stomach.

"Me too, Raggy," Scooby seconded. "Wonder if she's got any food."

Within a few seconds of their exchange, Aunt May came out through the entrance of her house once more to allow their company. "Thank you kids for waiting. Peter's still sleeping like he usually does on break days. Are you here to see him today?"

"Not today, May," Velma took lead of the conversation attempting to be rather forward while also indirect. "Our priorities have changed. We're here to ask you some questions for a school project."

"Well, if you have time, then come right in and sit down!" Aunt May welcomed them. "I'd be delighted to help you with your project just as you've helped Peter with his!"

Without a second to spare, the gang gathered around the living room seating, Aunt May almost feeling guilty for not providing treats or anything due to their uninvited visit. Still, this would have been enough of a thrill for Peter to have Mystery Incorporated step into his own house rather than just visit it and, for that, May was excited for her nephew. The anticipation to answer their questions may not have been as big as Peter's would have been, but it was still something for her to experience.

Along with the rest of them, Aunt May took her seat in preparation for their informal interview.

"So first off we were just wondering what all does you nephew do for a living?" Velma commenced the session, notepad and pen in hand as she slightly adjusted her glasses.

"Oh, who knows what he's doing in his free time!" Aunt May teasingly exclaimed. "He's nothing, but a high school junior at this point; always going out to events with his friends like that concert from the other night!"

"Typical," Velma snarked. "But we mean like a _job_. What all does he work?"

Aunt May assumed a think position; gracing her chin and shuffling through her memory, she tried to remember the various occupations Peter had undertaken in his young life. "He was once an intern at the Oscorp science labs on ESU campus, but that didn't go so well. As of now, though, he takes… well, pictures of Spider-Man to put in that Daily Bugle newspaper. If only that lousy editor would say nice things about him to show what supportive work Peter's put himself through."

 _The pictures of Spider-Man, of course!_ Velma thought to herself, recalling one morning she decided to actually pick up a newspaper and read the front page headline - "SPIDER-MAN STRIKES AGAIN!" Underneath those big bold letter sat an article that told the residents of New York all about how Spider-Man _and_ Mysterio attacked the Hex Girls out of hatred for the band. The picture of Spider-Man was taken at an angle that no average human being could have gotten due to Spider-Man's fast and agile nature. It almost started to make sense even more than her first assumption.

This was no time to jump to conclusions yet, however.

* * *

Having heard what sounded like the voices of Mystery Inc. in his own house, Peter got up and threw on some clothes in order to take a peek as to what was going on. Slowly and cautiously, he tiptoed down the stairs to listen in and confirm whether it was real. Even though he possessed enhanced hearing, sometimes he still swore his hearing was playing tricks on him. Surely, this was a lucid dream Peter concocted in his mind, right?

Wrong. "So if he works at the Bugle then how's he getting the photos of Spider-Man?" the voice of Velma asked rather sure of herself.

"Like, May, our stomachs are rumbling over here," the voice of Shaggy resonated. "Like how much food you got?"

"Reah, me too!" This was undoubtedly the unusual voice of Scooby-Doo - no doubt his aunt was hearing it for the first time.

"Oh, goodness!" Aunt May exclaimed in revolt. "The dog talks! But, of course! Feel free to help yourselves to whatever's in the kitchen!"

"Like, thanks, Mrs. May!" Shaggy referred to her rather informally.

 _What did she invite_ them _in for? Tea and cake?_ Peter thought rather concerningly as he joked to himself. Based on what he heard, however, it seemed like they were interviewing her, if not interrogating her for information on what he does. His Spider Sense didn't tingle like it usually did, but something told him his identity wasn't safe.

Suddenly, he heard movement and somebody's dress shoes and paws hitting the floor. No doubt, Shaggy and Scooby were walking en route to the kitchen - and taking the long way around the place for that matter. Not wanting to be seen and interrogated at this point in time, Peter decided to quickly and silently leap up high toward the ceiling above the stairwell. By use of his spider-like hairs, he stuck his hands and feet to the wall and ceiling surrounding him.

"Like, Scoob, did you hear that?" Shaggy asked, possibly due to the resonance of Peter's whoosh as he leaped out of sight.

"Nah, you're just hearing things," Scooby reassured him, his dog hearing probably not serving him the best in the moment. To that, Peter breathed a sigh of relief.

However, there was still the fact that they were interviewing his aunt on his life he had to worry about. It wasn't like he could just walk in and tell them to leave like he did when he was little and Aunt May and Uncle Ben's house guests were staying too late for him to go to bed. Then again, if he tried anything, he would draw too much attention to himself and get interrogated himself. So for the time being, he decided to listen attentively to both Velma and Fred's interviewing process and Scooby and Shaggy's gobbling of whatever food they decided to make in his aunt's kitchen. Daphne, meanwhile, seemed to be sitting there quietly probably fantasizing about being in Spider-Man's arms once more.

* * *

Following the five question interview Velma had planned for Aunt May, the readings she recorded all seemed to be converging toward the possibility of Peter Parker and Spider-Man being the same entity. She did not, however, want to announce it in front of everyone at Aunt May's house if it meant drawing unwanted attention from the street residents to themselves. Plus, even though she had the strong assumption that it was true, she had yet to fully analyze her findings for herself.

"That wasn't so bad trying to get answers from Aunt May, but can you imagine if, in some miraculous fashion, that she knows something of this?" Daphne put out there for the sake of giving her input to the previous engagement.

"Nonsense, Daph!" Fred reassured her. "We don't know for sure so why should she?"

"Yeah, but even I see it in Velma's eyes. They could be-"

Suddenly, Daphne found herself cut off by a voice calling out to them from the adjacent house. "Hey, guys! What are you up to here?"

They all turned around together to find the most unexpected surprise - it was Mary Jane Watson working in her garage on her motorbike. They initially had no idea that Peter and MJ were next door neighbors, but seeing this was undeniable proof of such. Almost immediately, Daphne folded her arms, trying her absolute best to appear fine as MJ waved to them happily.

"Mary Jane! Like, what a pleasant surprise!" Shaggy waved his greasy, food-covered hand and gave the first remark, much to Daphne's relief.

"What are you doing here?" Fred asked, not knowing of her status as Peter's girl next door.

"I live here, silly!" MJ teasingly remarked. "My motorbike wouldn't just be in any old stranger's garage now, would it?"

Hearing this, Fred agreed, while Daphne tried not to say anything. "But, of course!" Fred finally professed, not knowing where to take the conversation from there.

Good news was that Velma willed to step in and continue the conversation in a meaningful way. "And what a pleasant surprise too! You're just the person we need to see right now."

"Your's is just as pleasant, Velma," she said twisted a wrench to tighten a bolt before setting it down. She then took a rag nearby to wipe off her oily hands and stood to approach and stand in front of them much to Daphne's dismay. "So then what's the occasion with you guys?"

"Like, we were just visiting the Parker residence next door to see… if Aunt May had some… cookies for us to sell," Shaggy lied, remaining incognito with the mission they were undertaking.

"Since when did you guys get into selling cookies?" MJ continued upon the conversation.

"It's a long story," Velma said, piggybacking on Shaggy's deception, somewhat irritated that they weren't getting to the point. "Anyways, we did have a question to ask you."

"Oh, and what's that?" MJ assumed a rather curious position, noting Daphne's disinterest.

"Since the Hex Girls have gone missing, we were wondering if you'd be willing to pose as one of them while we search for them ourselves," Velma finally got to the point.

With an eager smile, MJ nodded in absolute agreement without a doubt in her mind. "Are you kidding?! That would be a dream come true for both me _and_ Gwen!" she chortled in her joy. "Can I be Luna?! I know how to play the keyboard and everything!"

"Oddly enough, we were just about to ask you that," Velma confirmed. "You both have the red hair, complexion, and musical talents so it makes perfect sense!"

"Then, yes! Yes! YES!" her fangirl excitement continued, almost freaking everybody out. "I'll go ask Gwen and see if she wants to play Dusk!"

"Already on it, sister," Velma assured her good friend. "Meanwhile, Daphne here will play Thorn."

MJ turned to Daphne, the two seeing eye-to-eye for what seemed to be the first time. "Will you now?"

Daphne's eyes widened. The 'Mary Jane girl' she so commonly referred to as was now staring right into her purple irises, searching deep into her soul for an answer that, if she found even a hint of jealousy, would probably stir her away. Would she take the opportunity to have a friendly conversation or would she release her pent up emotions about what seemed to be nothing?

"Well, yeah," she finally said after what seemed like an eternity of actually interacting with MJ.

"Boy, do you have the looks for it!" MJ complimented. This is exactly what Fred told her before. Perhaps it wasn't just him after all. "All you need is a wig, guitar, and the singing practice and we'll have ourselves a new Thorn!"

Daphne half smiled at this surprising compliment of her's. For a brief moment she seemed to forget all about her pent up jealousy she harbored for her and almost began to admire her expertise on Hex Girls fashion. She may not have held her and Velma's superfan status, but she certainly like the band herself.

"Thank you, MJ," Daphne said somewhat annoyed. Her patience was wearing thin, but certainly not because she wouldn't stop talking.

"No problem," MJ said with a smirk, laying a hand on her shoulder. "I encourage you to go get 'em!"

MJ smiled, prompting Daphne to force a smile back to her. In that moment, something was different, but she couldn't quite put her dainty finger on what.

* * *

Later on, back inside the hotel room, Velma had already contacted Gwen via video chat once more.

"So the Hex Girls went missing, you know, and the only remaining option for them to continue their tour is for someone to pose as them while we find them," Velma iterated, sparking her bestie's interest. "So I must ask if you'd be willing to pose as Dusk while Daphne and MJ are Thorn and Luna respectively."

Gwen hardly gave it a second thought. "Are you kidding? Yes! Yes! YES, I'll do it!"

"Jinkies! And MJ says she'll be Luna! I look forward to you _both_ performing!"

"Us too!" Gwen remarked prior to changing subjects. "Question: why do you say 'jinkies' so much?"

"Oh, it's just a joke that runs in my family," Velma explained reminiscing her childhood. "I tried saying my full name, 'Velma Dinkley', at age four and it came out sounding like 'Velma Jinkies'. It stuck ever since and now I use it as a catchphrase."

"That's awfully cute and funny of you, Velma," Gwen complimented.

"Awww, thanks, best friend!"

And so, without further adieu, an alternate plan was set in motion.


	12. Wheels in Motion

**Author's Note:** _Hello, regular readers! I am back from a temporary hiatus and excited to show you this chapter as it may have been the most exciting one I've written so far. This took a little thinking and reworking to get down, though I do have my friends, mcknight93 and 2 good 2 kill, to credit for helping me fix it from how it was written originally. Thank you once more for your support and I am hopeful to get the rest out very soon!_

* * *

For the first time since meeting up at the signing, the girls, Daphne, Gwen, and MJ, had gotten together at the Mystery Gang's hotel room for their makeovers. Transforming themselves into the Hex Girls was going to be a sinch as long as the band's makeup department knew what to do. It also helped that Quentin Beck had knowledge of the plan, giving them clearance for being fans as well as their connections to the rest of Mystery Inc. The guy must have been a little too nice for all they knew.

While they were getting their makeup and hair done, MJ couldn't help, but feel quite nervous about the headlines circulating about the Hex Girls that she had previously read on her phone. There were a number of conspiracy theorists saying that Mysterio was all apart of the band's "disappearing act" in order to get away from the public eye. It was an interesting theory, no doubt, but the Internet was already full of people who didn't know the truth. Given the elusive, illusory nature of Mysterio, the truth was difficult to make out. MJ almost couldn't bare to think that her favorite band would be posing a coverup with a menace like Mysterio even if it were for their own sanity. Still, uncovering the secrets behind a story so big would be something she would likely save for her future days as a photojournalist.

Once she was finished getting her Dusk-styled pigtails done, Gwen couldn't help, but notice MJ, all decked out in her Luna wig and leather suit, bearing a long face.

"Hey, sister, why the long face?" Gwen asked assuming a guitar rock pose. "We're about ready to rock!"

MJ sighed. "It's just, the real Hex Girls… what if everyone thinks we're not actually them?"

Gwen's eyes widened. She had never heard her best friend talk like that before. Of all the times they ever had boy trouble, MJ never once had a shadow of a doubt because she knew that together they could conquer it. Yet now here she was talking out of character. "Hey, remember that one line in their song, 'Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air'? 'We may look bad, but we don't care'?" she said playing into her inner fangirl in an effort to cheer her up.

"I know," MJ paused. "It's just I've seen the headlines about the Hex Girls and it looks like some people are trying to give them a bad reputation. And if we're going to pose as them-"

"Nonsense!" Gwen interrupted, optimism lacing her tone. "The people at the concert won't be able to tell the difference! Will they Daphne?"

Daphne had been applying her black wig with red highlights and pale powder so that she would unmistakably resemble Thorn. Soon as she finished placing a hairpin in her pocket for safekeeping, she stood up to mainly face Gwen as she was still feeling somewhat uneasy about MJ having harbored unwarranted jealousy toward her. Even so, she was surprised somebody besides her gang had remembered her name. "Forget Daphne, girls. Here comes Thorn 2.0!"

The girls wowed at Daphne as she approached them rather fashionably.

"Awesome!" Gwen complimented.

"You look stunning!" MJ followed.

"Can't even tell myself apart from the real thing!" Daphne teased spinning around. Something about being in a costume made her feelings less obvious, even to her. "We look exactly like them, now do we?"

"You bet, we do!" Gwen agreed, swinging her arms in agreement. She couldn't have been more pumped than ever about taking on the role of Dusk on drums. Despite this, she still noticed a flat expression on her best friend's face and leaned in trying to sound genuine. "Cheer up, Mary Jane. We'll do just fine. And know that if you need anything we're right here for you."

At her kind words, MJ lifted her head and smiled slightly. "I suppose you're right," she stood up, unwilling to let her insecurities get the best of her. "Thanks, girls. I needed that."

For a change, Daphne smiled at MJ's kind words. Cheesy as she may have looked, she seemed to be thinking that this Mary Jane girl wasn't bad at all for her to be around.

Later on, Daphne, Gwen, and MJ posing as Thorn, Dusk, and Luna respectively all stood on stage in the darkness of the Rockwood Music Hall as the audience began to cheer for the Hex Girls to somehow magically come back. Their wish was granted when the girls in their witch-like appearances appeared in the light of the spotlights and pyrotechnics lighting up the arena. The girls began to sing and play their hearts out even though Daphne wasn't holding Thorn's guitar - or playing one for that matter. On the plus side, they proved themselves to know all their music - even the more obscure titles such as "Who Do Voodoo". The crowd couldn't have been more pleased with their performance as they cheered out their names and bounced around like Mexican jumping beans, not being able to tell the difference between them and the real deals.

All this and the plan to lure Spider-Man into a trap was set in motion.

* * *

Elsewhere, Mystery Inc. had sent multiple text messages to Spider-Man stating that they were meeting in a warehouse a few clicks away from the concert. A rundown sector of downtown Manhattan set under a highway bridge appeared to be the safest place to lure a heroic buff like Spider-Man into a trap - if ever Spider-Man was actually dangerous like some at the Daily Bugle said he was.

The only problem was that their bait almost wasn't willing to go along with the ploy they had in mind.

"All we need is our bait and the suspect of the week and this trap will be complete!" Fred stated as he approached Velma and knelt to her level as she sat behind some crates.

"Shaggy, Scooby! Come on out!" Velma called out from her kneeling position.

It took a few seconds, but Shaggy and Scooby finally turned the corner around some crates, revealing themselves to be dressed in popular supervillains getups. Shaggy wore a green jumpsuit with goggles and tentacles protruding from a harness around his torso reminiscent of Spider-Man's arch nemesis, Doctor Octopus (aka "Doc Ock"). Scooby on the other hand, was covered in green and white feathers and had on flight goggles much like that of the lesser Spider-Man threat, the Vulture. Thrilled as they were to dress as their favorite Spidey villains from the comics they owned, their uncertainty about capturing and unmasking their idol remained.

"Fred, meet our Vulture and Doc Ock!" Velma gestured to Scooby and Shaggy respectively.

"Awesome!" Fred exclaimed, enthusiasm pumping through his veins as he raised a fist. "Where'd you get those costumes?"

"We got 'em at the costume store last night after we decided how to bait the trap," Velma explained with a smile on her face as she was rather proud of her executive decision. "Is the flypaper in place?"

Fred glanced over at the precise spot on the wall where a grey sheet of flypaper, disguised as part of the grey brick wall, had been pasted in the precise spot where they were planning to corner the wall crawler. He gave her a thumbs up to let her know all the pieces were in place. "Ready as it'll ever be!"

"Like, I don't know, guys. Trapping Spider-Man seems like tricky business even for us," Shaggy objected,. "And, like, I don't want to terrorize him like this."

"Me neither," Scooby joined him. "I really don't want to see what his face looks like."

"Guys, it's only necessary that we do this to figure out who we're _really_ working with," Velma assured them.

In unison, Scooby crossed his arms with Shaggy as they closed their eyes and turned away. "Sorry, Relma, but you can't make me do it!" Scooby protested.

Thinking smart, Velma reached behind her to pull out a green and orange box labeled "Scooby Snacks", which she had been saving in case something like this happened. "Would you _both_ do it for a Scooby Snack?"

"Not even a Scooby Snack can stir us, Velma!" Shaggy proclaimed, stubborn as ever.

"Two Scooby Snacks?""

"Nope!" Scooby shook his head.

One last shot and Velma hoped for the best that her next and most ultimate bribe would work in their favor. "Then… how about a dozen?"

Both of their faces immediately perked up. Shaggy swirled his wet tongue around his dry lips and Scooby began to salivate and pant fastly with joy.

"A dozen? Like, that's the jackpot!" Shaggy exclaimed.

"Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Reah!" Scooby began to crave the deliciousness that was his own signature food.

"Then here ya go!" Velma said tossing the box to Shaggy who immediately snatched it out of midair.

"Like, thanks!" Shaggy thanked her before piling an estimate of twelve Scooby Snacks into his mouth and crunching down on them. Their deliciousness filled his stomach like water to a fish bowl as Scooby took some for himself and chowed down on the same amount. "Of course, I don't know about playing the bad guy, but if Scooby Snacks are involved…"

"It'll be fun, Shaggy! Trust me!" Fred said, feeling somewhat queasy in his stomach as he stared at the fly paper on the wall. He never caught a superhero before much less try and capture an ally for personal reasons. "You ready, Velma?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Velma assured him, preparing the rope for Scooby to dangle from as Shaggy got into position. When it came to Fred's traps, Velma always had a thing for pulling ropes even in the various plays she and her friends participated in. Of course, that was for plays where it involved capturing the audience's attention as opposed to a physical person - much less a superhero.

This might as well have been a new accomplishment for Fred however uneasy he felt about doing it.

Pushing all doubts aside, Fred suddenly felt his phone vibrate and took it out of his pocket to find Spider-Man's number calling him. From where he knelt, he answered cautiously in hopes his voice wouldn't carry through the warehouse and reveal his location to Spider-Man.

"Hey, guys, I'm at the warehouse you talked about. Um, where are you?" the web slinger asked curiously.

Peering from around the corner, Fred noticed that Spidey was looking for them. Casually on the phone with his mask halfway up that revealed a small smile, Spider-Man truly had no idea what was waiting for him, and that worked perfectly to Fred's advantage.

"We're behind some crates. Come on, we could use your help."

"Crates… where?" Spidey questioned, befuddled as could be. "Is this some kind of practical joke? They all look the same!"

From around the nearest crate emerged somebody that, while looking like Doc Ock, didn't quite resemble the real thing - his Spider Sense didn't even register an oncoming attack.

"There you are, Spider-Man!" Shaggy shouted cheesily, causing Spidey to drop his phone in shock. "By the power of… _science_ … you shall suffer!"

Spidey couldn't help, but laugh at what looked to be Shaggy lumbering around pretending to look as menacing as the real deal. "Wow, seriously? A Doc Ock rip off? Nice try-"

Next thing he knew, his Spider Sense _did_ ring, signaling him to jump out of the way of something swooping in above him from the shadows.

"Whoa!" Spidey exclaimed as he flipped over Shaggy, landing in front of the wall where the flypaper was set to capture him. He turned around to witness Scooby flying through the air as the dog turned to face him menacingly letting out his best bird impression with a screechy "squawk" sound.

"Wow, Vulture and Doc Ock! My two worst enemies!" Spidey remarked sarcastically as he backflipped onto the nearest wall. "Don't worry, this'll only take a sec-"

He tried to move, but his muscles wouldn't budge for some reason. Was he glued to the wall by means of magic or was his costume somehow inexplicably stapled to the wall?

"What?! I can't move!" Spidey exclaimed.

From where he perched stuck in place, Peter witnessed Fred and Velma along with the knockoff supervillains approach his position. To think he would end up missing the concert his best friends were apart of just for this to happen. He really didn't want to let Gwen and MJ down, but it wasn't like he wanted to blow off a potential mystery - especially if it involved Mysterio. This may as well have been a Mysterio illusion for all he knew.

He tried to move, but he hardly could. The wall must have been coated with some sticky substance. He could almost feel himself gain back his mobility, but then no movement came to him. He could do nothing to help as he perched there, struggling to move a muscle.

They were likely about to unmask him.

"Nice disappearing act," Velma snarked reaching up for his mask and yanking it off. "Peter Parker!"

Shaggy and Scooby gasped and gulped almost out of resentment for what they had just witnessed.

"Like, our guess was almost correct!" Shaggy exclaimed in surprise.

"So much for a tall-standing figure," Scooby followed almost insultingly.

"It all makes sense now!" Fred exclaimed, baffled that his guess was just as good as Velma's for a change.

"...You knew?!" Peter asked them, feeling the need to talk mere seconds after his revelation.

"It was the best hypothesis I could come up with after narrowing down my options," Velma said recalling Peter's actions. "Every time we came close to Peter, Spider-Man would show up. And vice versa with Spider-Man and Peter. There was virtually no mistake about it; both parties were just as willing to team up with us and for similar reasons. And plus, the other day Fred saw your suit hanging out of your bag. I didn't want to jump to conclusions quite yet, but it seemed obvious you two had a strong connection with that single piece of evidence."

"I knew that had to be the reason. Plus listen to your voices," Fred noted. "They sound so similar and you both quip in any given situation!"

Peter spread a look of defeat across his face. He knew there was no way of escaping this situation. The mere fact that he was stuck to a wall was enough of a dead giveaway. "Okay, you got me. There's no hiding that this is my life now."

"Your story better be pretty good. What did you do? Find a source of ultimate power that would hide you away from the world?" Velma remarked sarcastically, tired of the same old excuses from her past foes.

"Well, you see, it's kind of depressing so bare with me," Peter said back prepared to finally share his story with somebody else beside himself. "See, when I was fifteen, my class went on a field trip featuring a spider exhibit full of radioactive spiders. While we were there, an accident occurred where one of the spiders got loose and found its way into my bag. Later, while I was talking with MJ on the bus, it bit me, crawling away never to be seen again."

Mystery Inc. exchanged many intrigued looks at one another listening to Peter's story. _If only Daphne and the others were here to hear this,_ Fred thought to himself.

"And so, with that, I discovered I was experiencing all kinds of crazy changes in my body and abilities. I was climbing the walls, crushing cans without trying, and able to leap to high places without a trampoline. It was exhilarating! I knew, without a doubt, I _had_ to use it for something cool and courageous! So I entered a wrestling competition and, before the audience could blink, I won. But then I had my reward conned out of me like a poor man seeking money. The guys who paid me subsequently got robbed and then… I got a call from Aunt May stating that our dear Uncle Ben, the man who tried to tell me that night 'with great power comes great responsibility', had been killed."

Mystery Inc. gasped in unison at this shocking revelation. Scooby especially was in tears having to wipe his eyes with his long tail.

"I'm so sorry," Fred said, filling in the void that Daphne had left for him.

"It still haunts me to this day, but the story gets better," Peter continued. "I searched many days for the man responsible, wanting nothing, but revenge for what he had taken from me. I eventually confronted him in an alleyway, finding out that he was the same man who robbed the wrestling match. And so then I realized it was my fault. I let the criminal get away with murdering my uncle all because I failed to stop him. But since then I vowed never to let any criminal get away with such heinous crimes because, if no one's around to stop them, someone _will_ get hurt. With great power comes great responsibility."

The mystery gang stood in awe of Peter's story, wondering now what further comment could top that.

"Like, this whole time I never thought superheroes had such heart-wrenching origin stories," Shaggy acknowledged the fact that he hadn't read Spider-Man's original issue yet. "Thanks for sharing your's, Pete!"

"It's a weight off my shoulders alright," Peter felt relieved. "Now could I ask you all one little favor?"

"What's that?" Velma inclined.

"I think it would be best if none of you press charges for me or my actions. Getting arrested would spell doom for my family and friends since they would know of my secret identity. I simply can't live knowing the villains I encounter on a regular basis would be attacking my beloved," Peter suggested. "So, uh, pretty please?"

Fred faced Peter, reaching a hand out for him. "Here, let me help you down first," he offered to Peter, which he accepted. Fred then cut the giant flypaper with his own specialized scissors allowing Peter once more the chance to stand on solid ground. "We think it could be possible for you to not live such a secret life anymore now that we know who you are and that you mean well."

Peter looked bewildered beyond belief. "Wait a minute. Wh-what do you mean?"

"All we're saying is that it would be worth revealing yourself at least to those closest to you. We unmask phonies all the time and those people tend to feel sorry for turning to crime just to get their way. But you, you're a hero. And we can see that talking about yourself did well for us understanding who _you_ are. So maybe you ought to do the same for someone else you care about?"

Peter sat on the idea for a moment. Of course, he had always felt burdened by the idea of having to hide his secret identity from his friends, but he couldn't just tell them all at once. Just telling eighty percent of Mystery Inc. was hard enough for him that he thought maybe he should start off small in case he needed to. Finally, after thinking things over, he nodded. "Maybe I'll consider telling the ones that matter most. That should be a good place to start."

"Whatever you say is right, go ahead and try!" Fred encouraged as he took back Peter's mask from Velma and handed it to him.

Peter smiled. Never had he heard more inspiring words from someone else he admired… well, except Uncle Ben after the fact. In the back of his mind, he realized this was why the gang came over to his place asking Aunt May questions. Even so, he realized he couldn't change what happened and hoped that Aunt May wouldn't find out anyhow.

His secret was safe with them.

Suddenly, Spider Sense registered yet another nearby threat signaling Peter to dart his eyes in the direction of a nearby smoke bomb.

"Look out!" Peter exclaimed the instant before the smoke bomb went off. By instinct, he jumped onto a nearby pole, mask in hand, quickly pulling it back on before looking around the room in a panic. From where he perched, Fred, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby stood below, shrouded in purple smoke, coughing and swatting it away, but thankfully not falling unconscious. He didn't need Spider Sense to know what villain was inbound on their position.

His guesses were correct when he witnessed Mysterio step in from the middle of the room, prepared to deliver a taunt of epic proportions. "Here they stand, Mystery Inc. and Spider-Man, not guarding the Hex Girls' replacements, scheming to stop the greatest wizard of all time from sabotaging the show and capturing the imposters!"

"In your wildest dreams, Mysterio!" Spidey quipped. "How'd you find us anyway?"

"Like I said, an Arcane wizard _never_ reveals his secrets!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, I have plenty of secrets that you, yourself, would regret to know!" Spidey fired back. Having enough of his tricks, Spidey then placed a Spider Tracer on his webshooter and webbed his line toward the menace's helmet. Hopping from his perch and swirling into a kick, he was then met with Mysterio vanishing like always not to Spider-Man's surprise.

"Dormi!" Mysterio shouted from the shadows as the smoke on the ground turned from purple to green. In an instant, Spidey fell to his knees half-paralyzed and somewhat sleepy along with the rest of Mystery Inc.. Mysterio then reappeared seemingly from thin air, standing menacingly above Scooby, frightening the dog to his core as he and Spidey sat nearly helpless watching. From his commanding position, Mysterio summoned a samurai sword, the blade gleaming in the light of the warehouse while everyone just sat there, wondering what to do. If nobody acted, the dog would be seriously injured, or worse, die.

And so, where Mystery Inc. could do nothing, Spidey, with what little strength he had webbed Mysterio's sword, latching the substance onto it and catching the wizard off guard. " _What_?!" he exclaimed. Mysterio had his sword yanked away by Spider-Man as the weapon tumbled across the floor toward Spidey, still too weak to pick it up.

"You know… you really need… a better taste in… weaponry," Spidey struggled to get out as the smoke began to clear.

"How insulting!" Mysterio snarled. "Perhaps this would be a good time to perform a tactical retreat!"

Mysterio levitated away from the area, nothing to carry him as he, once again, warped away. Believing him to be a coward and a trickster all at once, Spidey regained enough strength to use his knees once more and trudged over to his friends to encourage them to do the same. "Come on, we gotta go after him and fast!"

After a few seconds of regaining mobility, each of them got up and made their way toward the abandoned warehouse entrance. Soon as they reached the double doors, they threw them both open, light pouring in onto their retinas as they searched the vicinity for any sign of Mysterio. From down the street, they witnessed Mysterio floating on a cloud of green smoke sending out lightning bolts that struck the street and cars below. "Catch me if you can, Spider-Man!" the wizard taunted teasingly.

"Quick after him!" Spidey pointed, signaling the rest of the gang to hurriedly pile into the Mystery Machine parked nearby. Revving up the engines, Fred drove the van in hot pursuit as Spidey swung en route for Mysterio who was now firing lightning bolts from his single cloud. With precise agility, Spidey dodged each bolt in pursuit, Fred doing the same as he swerved around the oncoming cars during rush hour.

"He's heading for the concert! We can't lose him!" Fred shouted, kicking the Mystery Machine into high gear.

"Like, that would be a great idea!" yelled Shaggy over the screeching tires.

Mysterio charged up another series of flaming fists that he sent hurtling toward Spidey to which he counterattacked by means of a series of his own circular objects: web balls. Using a pair of flaming fists he summoned seemingly from thin air, Mysterio managed to swipe them all away, effectively knocking them clear out of sight.

"That totally worked last time!" scoffed Spidey, disappointed in Mysterio's ability to get stronger somehow.

Having thrown out all his best efforts, Mysterio finally summoned his strongest yet: a beam of light that attached to nearby sewer lids. The menace hurtled them at Spidey and the van, both of which dodged them all. Knowing they were distracted enough, Mysterio apparently summoned water from the sewers, leaving them with an additional obstacle to dodge. Water poured onto the streets, causing the surrounding pieces of road to become soaked in a mid-Spring mist. Of course, Spider-Man and his allies were able to swerve around them whilst Spidey himself landed on top the lids in an effort to push them all back toward the ground. Soon as they turned a corner that lead them closer to the concert hall, Mysterio had unfortunately vanished like he always did. _Clever tricks as always,_ Spidey thought.

"What?! Where did that scoundrel get to now?!" Spidey questioned as he landed in the middle of the street, the Mystery Machine screeching into view behind him.

Looking to their right, the gang witnessed Mysterio rising from the nearby Rockwood Music Hall, carrying three different girls who were rendered unconscious. The sight of everything occurring before their eyes signaled the mystery gang to pile out of their vehicle and watch in horror.

"Daphne!" exclaimed a panicked Fred.

"Gwen!" Velma added.

"MJ!" Spidey finished.

And just like that, the three of them and Mysterio vanished in a blinding flash of light.

As everyone else just stood there wondering what just happened, Fred panicked and ran for the music hall. "Daphne!" he shouted for her at the top of his lungs.

As he made his way through the staggering crowd piling out of the hall in a blazing panic, Fred began to hyperventilate knowing that his Daphne wasn't safe and that he may not be able to find her. "Daphne?! Daphne, where are you?!" he repeated, making a run for the stage to see if Mysterio had taken them there. Searching high and low, he checked backstage and on stage, but found nothing, no trace of Daphne or the girls. Out of breath, he clutched his knees as his remaining team and Spider-Man approached him for comfort. The crowd had already ventured out of the arena leaving them to console each other alone.

"No… no! This can't be happening!" Fred told himself in denial of the situation. "She can't be gone! No-no! … I was … so focused … on trapping Spider-Man … I forgot about Mysterio!"

"Easy, Prince Charming," Velma told him, trying to lighten the mood. "There's a lot to do before we split up and look for clues again."

"No need to look for clues this time because _I_ happened to come prepared!" Spidey boasted about his nifty gadgets.

Shaggy gave him a look of bewilderment. "Like, what do ya mean?"

"While I was webbing at Mysterio in the warehouse, I placed one of my specially marked Spider Tracers onto his helmet. If he hasn't noticed it by now, I can use my radar to track his whereabouts and save my… our friends," Spidey explained, keeping calm despite the fact that his old and new friends were now being held captive presumably with the Hex Girls.

"Great idea. I like your thinking, Peter!" Velma complimented. "If it were up to me, I could use your tech for something I've been working on."

"...You'd have to get the Spider-Man seal of approval for that sort of thing," Spidey joked. "And another thing, don't say my real name out in public, it could draw some unnecessary attention for all we know."

"Right. Sorry," Velma apologized.

"Yes, sir, loyal Spider-Man!" Scooby saluted.

Peter could not believe himself. He told the first people ever in his life that he was Spider-Man and they didn't seem to care that it was him the whole time - well, except maybe Scooby and Shaggy, but they came to terms with it eventually. On top of that, though, his old friends and his new friends' fellow comrades were in danger and, despite keeping calm under pressure, he knew he had to do something to get them back. Should the time come for him to get serious it was the moment they decided to prepare for battle against an unstoppable Arcane wizard genius with a Latin accent.

One false move during his next confrontation with the villain of the week could as well possibly been his last.


	13. Mysterio's Funhouse

**Author's Note:** _Hello, guys! Originally, this chapter was written in a rushed manner just so I could get the story out, but, as of this rewrite, it's received a MASSIVE update! So if you're willing to come back and re-read it for knowledge on what's supposed to happen next, feel free to stop by and have a look! In the meanwhile, the next chapter will be updated VERY soon and then, after that, I will finally have the last chapter up!_

* * *

After Spidey equipped his Spider Tracer tracker into the Mystery Machine, the gang hopped right back into the iconic van in hopes to arrive at the last location wherever Mysterio wound up. While tightening a few bolts and screws with Velma, Spidey somehow managed to keep his emotions in check despite the fact that his best friends were now in danger. Something about confessing his crime fighter lifestyle seemed to allow him to feel more emotionally organized than usual. However, he wasn't exactly in the mood to web swing and offered to instead ride in the Mystery Machine to avoid any public attention. With a heavy heart, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mysterio wasn't going to bring them to a place of sunshine and rainbows like a magician at a birthday party.

He was more than likely to bring about darkness and despair upon them to no avail.

This was the first time Gwen and MJ had ever been outright kidnapped by any of his foes. Most of the time they were either threatened or put in danger - like the time the Sandman attacked their school, flooding the hallways with sand particles that took ages to clean up - but never abducted and brought out of sight. Even though he knew to come prepared this time, he certainly wasn't prepared for this.

Fred, meanwhile, had witnessed Daphne get captured _many_ times prior to now, but never by a supervillain of such great power. Most of the crooks in suits they encountered before possessed no forms of enhanced technology or carried dangerous weaponry aside from maybe a few smoke bombs they used to make their great escape. Mysterio, on the other hand, proved to be a dangerous foe by how willingly he threatened the Hex Girls _and_ his friends with plenty of technological marvels and weapons that, while fake, still posed dangerous to the likes of a normal human being. With Spider-Man on their side, though, the odds remained in their favor, but unless they couldn't get to the girls in time, then who knew what would happen to them.

With all these ideas heavy on Fred's conscience, his expression remained rather glum for the drive.

"Fred, cheer up," Velma said optimistically from the seat next to him noticing his downer appearance. "I'm sure we'll see Daphne again."

Feeling inspired by Spidey's great confession, he took a deep breath ready to let his feelings out. "It's not just that she disappeared, Velm. It's just…" He paused and sighed, knowing what he wanted to say, but barely having the strength to say it. "I'm worried."

"Worried? About what?" she asked of concern.

"I'm worried about the horrible things Mysterio may do to her," he finally said. "This villain's bigger than any of the ones we've captured in Coolsville that he may do something more extreme than simply use Daphne and the others to lure _us_ into _his_ trap."

"He's certainly more capable of atrocity than the Road Rager was and…" Velma paused, giving Fred a look that told him she figured out something he didn't quite understand about himself yet. "Fred! Are you telling me you have _feelings_ for something - or someone - _other_ than traps?"

Fred's eyes widened. He then glanced over at her rather quickly in an effort to feign innocence. "What?! N-no, I…" He slumped over, feeling now there was no way to hide it. "I do, Velma."

Velma put her fists to her hips as if she had already figured it out. "Wow, I never would've guessed you had a thing for Daphne," she stated sarcastically. "No wonder you're always pairing up with her every time we split up back in Coolsville!"

"You're right. And not only is she an essential part of this organization, but I fear the worst-case scenario of losing her without telling her how I feel. And this time, I'm gonna show her that I care!"

Velma's expression turned from curious to that of a smile, showing her that Fred, a supposedly uncaring guy, _did_ have feelings for people that made him, well… human like the rest of them.

Meanwhile, in the backseat, Spidey had been tossing over his own feelings with Scooby and Shaggy.

"I still can't believe I've let all my friends down," Spidey admitted to the pair. "I've lost my best friend due to misunderstanding and now I've abandoned my best gal pals at their debut concert simply because you guys wanted to know who I was. Well, now you probably know what it's like to let a menace get away with kidnapping somebody you care about just because you were to blind to consider all the factors."

"Hey, Spider-Man, don't get so down on yourself," Shaggy assured him. In spite of learning that his biggest idol was somebody he knew of lesser importance, he remained optimistic about working with him and had greater reason to be his moral support. "Like, we have this happen to us all the time."

"Reah, when Daphne gets kidnapped, she's always a sniff away," Scooby said, flaring his nostrils in a dogish manner.

"I appreciate the optimism, guys, but it's never that simple," Peter began to explain. "With a villain like Mysterio on the loose, the possibilities of him hurting those you care about are all the more likely."

Shaggy and Scooby pondered on this point for a brief moment. Optimistic as they were, they sometimes didn't realize the realism of situations like what Spidey just described. "Like, I suppose you have a point, but I guess I wouldn't understand what with all that responsibility you talked about."

"Trust me, if we keep meeting up like this then surely you'll know what it means to bare great responsibility," Peter assured them while, despite his mood, also encouraging them to think like a superhero for a change.

"Reah, like figuring out where Mysterio went off to," Scooby tried to cater to his motto.

"Like, I hope it's someplace nice and tropical!" Shaggy wished, trying not to think about haunted houses at the moment.

"In Manhattan? You wish." Spidey stated with a chuckle.

Back in the front seat, Velma picked up a blip on the radar pinpointing the nearest possible location that Mysterio could have gone to. "Guys, I think he's close!"

As soon as they heard rapid beeping from the radar, Fred screeched the Mystery Machine to a halt. Mysterio must have been close. Collectively, they all stepped out of the Mystery Machine to find themselves near a rundown apartment in the middle of Harlem. An unlikely place to find a villain's lair.

"Wow! Mysterio's lair looks… just like your average apartment," Spidey joked. Certainly this wasn't what he was expecting given their circumstances. He expected a dark, looming castle with lightning and storm clouds surrounding it - in the middle of Manhattan nonetheless.

"Most unusual," Velma remarked as she glanced at the radar through her glasses. "The radar indicates he's right here for some reason. He must've caught your tracer before he walked in."

"Good thing I came prepared!" Spidey boasted.

"And so did I!" Fred added, boasting about his trap supplies he was currently holding. "You all know what time it is?"

"Like, is it snack time?" Shaggy asked, not wanting to face the task at hand. "Like, I don't wanna go in there if it's gonna be all rundown and freaky like… you know, a haunted house or something."

"Don't be silly, Shaggy," Fred responded. "It's trap time!"

"Right, of course," Shaggy replied nervously, laughter and all. Fred and his traps were all he needed to know that the time to face their fears was now. "Still, this is a villain who kidnapped our friends, _and_ the Hex Girls, and escaped from Spider-Man multiple times with all sorts of weapons that could actually…" he gulped. "Hurt people!"

"I'm just as scared as you are, Shaggy," Scooby told his owner. "As if seeing Spider-Man's face wasn't terrifying enough."

"Hey now, dog! Those who know my face say I'm perfectly handsome!" Spidey retorted too gullible to realize Scooby was just joking.

"Cool it, guys!" Velma stirred before they started arguing. "We're here to catch that villain, not pick at each other. Besides, Mysterio's more than likely just another guy behind a mask just… you know, with a lot of gadgets."

"I know I'll be the one to counter that!" Fred vouched, more excited than ever to trap a trap master.

Velma folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Trapples," she hypocritically sassed him.

Spidey couldn't help, but notice Shaggy and Scooby were still shaking and shivering like the team cowards they were. It was at this moment that Spidey remembered why he never tended to work with such amateurs, but something told him that he didn't have to let them stay as they were. "Whoa, guys! You both cold out here in the middle of Spring?" the Web-head quipped.

"N-no, it's just…" Scooby trailed off.

"We're both scared to a point where we might wet ourselves," Shaggy finished for him. "C-could we maybe wait out here instead?"

"Come on, guys! Your friend, Daphne, is in there. _My_ friends are in there. You guys can't have a team reunion without you two in the picture, now can you?" Spidey told them in the form of a motivational pep talk. "Just be brave and know I'll be right beside you!"

Taking a break from his usual pre-haunt shivers, Shaggy gave his good friend and idol a knowing glance. "Wow, you really mean it, Pete-I mean, Spider-Man?"

"Yeah, man! And if your idol can make it, surely you can too!" Spidey further commented. This wasn't his best A-material - it sounded cheesy for all he knew - but if it made his fans any less scared, then it was the best he got for the moment.

Scooby paused to take in what the Web-head just said. "He's right, you know," the dog spoke up. "At least one of us needs to be brave for Daphne."

"Right, and she's our friend, Scoob! So as long as we go in together…" Shaggy didn't know where to take his sentence, but, having heard his idol deliver such encouraging words, he had a good feeling about where he needed to be.

"We could be unstoppable!" Scooby finished, placing his paw on Shaggy's elbow to comfort him.

The two smiled at one another, embracing like the owner and dog they were. Just them touching signified how much they needed each other and helped them realize how much Daphne needed them all to be brave for a change. They might have been scaredy cats for most of their lives, but with their idol by their side, they were going to do their absolute best not to. As their embrace lasted a few seconds, the rest of the gang stared in their direction knowingly yet somewhat annoyed that they were wasting time. Daphne, Gwen, MJ, and the Hex Girls could as well have been interrogated and tortured by Mysterio for all Fred and Peter knew.

"Now that we're done with sentiments here, we'd better catch some thieves just like flies," Spidey said, referring to the lyrics of his own theme song.

"Right you are, Spider-Man!" Fred agreed, knowing it was Peter under the mask, but choosing not to say it for the sake of protecting his identity. "Gang, be careful this time. For all we know, Mysterio could be at large waiting to ambush us."

"That wizard will rue the day he messed with the friends of Scooby-Dooby-Doo!" Scooby stood up rather seriously in an effort to put on a game face. Deep down, he was still just as scared as ever, but after listening to his idol give him a motivational pep talk, it was almost as if he had the courage to take on Mysterio himself. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to directly, but, as long as Spider-Man stood by their side, he felt like they could do almost anything.

So, without further adieu, the gang marched together inside the apartment complex ready for anything to come their way.

Upon entering through the double doors of the complex, they were met with what looked to be abandoned, vacant lobby. Dust lined the empty kiosk and debris from flower pots sat next to the dirty marble pillars that made the place seem all the more creepy to the average bystander. In spite of the motivation he received a couple seconds ago, Shaggy's teeth had already begun to chatter in fear as a result of the eerie landscape so much that he already wanted to leave and get out of there.

"Like, this is no haunted house, but it gives me the creeps!" Shaggy remarked as Scooby laid a hand on him hopeful to calm him down.

"Just stay calm, he could be anywhere we don't expect," Spidey assured him in an effort to get him back on track.

Suddenly, a ding rang in the distance, alarming Shaggy to the point of jumping into Scooby's arms. "What was that?!"

From behind the dusty kiosk, an elevator arrived as if to summon the group downward towards their doom.

"At last, Mystery Incorporated and Spider-Man have arriveth to dine on my dinner of doom," Mysterio's voice rang over the unseen intercom. "Come on down and see if you can survive the trials of my funhouse. Should you make it through, I will release your friends and the girl band I so captured long ago. If not, they shall remain in my captivity until the end of time!"

Until the end of time was something Fred would not put up with. At this point, he would rather be with Daphne until then; as much as he barely dared to tell her anything before, something changed the moment he witnessed her abduction and he wasn't about to let it go to waste.

"You want a fight, Mysterio, then you've got one!" Spidey offered himself along with the rest of the gang. "We outnumber you five to one!"

"Aye, clever boy, Spider-Man," Mysterio remarked. "But fighting matters not down here so much as surviving!"

Whatever that meant, Shaggy and Scooby especially did not want to know. Regardless, they followed the gang into the elevator in which Spidey pushed the button that sent them downward to their destination. Little did they know they were about to have the fright of their lives.

Soon as they reached the bottom floor of wherever the elevator took them, they were greeted with the sight of a rather plain and normal-looking, red and brown carpeted apartment hallway… on the bottom floor. The gang examined the place rather closely to make sure nothing was either overly suspicious or booby trapped for that matter.

"It looks just like a normal apartment hallway, but then why-" Spidey spoke before the place began to rumble.

Suddenly, like a contraption in a movie set, the place began to flip on its side, hurdling everyone aside towards the wall. Fred, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby tumbled into one another, landing into the wall like a bunch of bananas, which turned to a ceiling, which then turned into another wall. In the confusion, Spidey barely had any time to look back and help his helpless comrades as they tumbled about. As much as he wanted to help them, he had to get to solid ground first in order that he may focus on rescuing them. Using his webs to his advantage, the Web-head strategically and systematically attached his webs to all sides of the rotating cylinder, the swirling hallway becoming more confusing as he hurdled himself along. Behind him, he could hear everyone ramming into one another as they wailed and snapped at one another over the simplest collision. It was a mess alright, but one that he would somehow be able to fix in a matter of seconds if only he could find solid ground.

Eventually, Spidey did land once more on solid ground, beyond which the world seemed normal again save for the empty blackness that covered the surrounding area. Still not fully recovered from the dizziness that was the rotating hallway, he turned back to face the tilting corridor, which had apparently already begun to rotate the opposite direction from before. This only made matters worse for the Mystery Gang as they started to spout inaudible screams over their inability to see and walk straight. If this kept up, somebody was bound to get injured before long and that was the last thing Spidey ever wanted to let happen to anybody. Thinking smart, Spidey launched a series of webs for each of them to grab onto.

"Guys, grab on!" Spidey called out to them as his webs attached one by one to Fred, Velma, and finally Scooby and Shaggy. With a swift tug of each subsequent web, Spidey pulled them through one by one, assisting Fred and Velma to safety first as their recoveries were the smoothest. On the other hand, Scooby and Shaggy clumsily bumped into each other on the launch forward as they tumbled through the air. Once they made it passed the rotating cage of a hallway, Spidey hopped back a step as they piled onto one another nearly dazed from the impact of colliding with one another.

"Like, that's the last time I ever step into a rotating hallway of doom!" Shaggy commented, remembering all the times he stepped into a similar attraction at the carnival funhouse back in Coolsville.

"It's only gonna get worse from here. Come on!" Spidey signaled the group as the meandered forward with him, their views of the world around almost completely distorted from the rotating hallway. Hopefully, Mysterio's next funhouse attractions wouldn't be nearly as nauseating.

* * *

Slowly, but surely, Daphne awoke after being unconscious for an unknown period of time. Through her opening eyelids, she could just barely make out her surroundings, which consisted of blackness illuminated by only the brightness of white, blurry screens sitting in front of her. The further she opened her eyes, the more she could faintly make out the silhouette of a figure standing in front of her: a broad-shouldered, pillar-like man with a round head. No doubt this was Mysterio with his cape wrapped around him.

"Why do you insist on keeping the Hex Girls in the limelight?" Mysterio questioned interrogatively.

Daphne didn't answer. She wasn't awake enough to respond nor was she willing to talk to a madman like him.

"Do you expect me to respond to silence? I can see you're awakening so answer me!" Mysterio fired impatiently. The wizard may have been one to slowly tear things apart, but he wasn't patient much.

Daphne grunted as she attempted to lunge at Mysterio only to feel a sudden jerk backwards. Her hands were handcuffed to a wooden chair, herself realizing that Gwen and MJ - Hex Girls costumes and all - were also the same. The girls were slowly nodding awake as she thought of an answer that just wouldn't come to her.

"The show must go on, bubble brain!" Daphne fired back insultingly. "Nothing a mad wizard like yourself would understand!"

"She's right!" Gwen shouted as she awoke. "Let us go you big jerk!"

"Fools!" Mysterio proclaimed. "You think I'm so easily fazed by your insults? I assure you there is more to me than meets the eye!"

This comment got MJ thinking as she became more conscious. "Well, then why don't you take off your mask and show us who you are?"

"And give away the illusion?" Mysterio asked concerningly. "You have no idea how the Arcane Arts work, do you, young lady?"

As if demonstrating a point, Mysterio summoned from thin air above her a green cloud that spewed out a bolt of lightning. The lightning zapped her with a jolt of electric energy, making her yelp in pain. Daphne could do nothing, but sit there and watch as her former supposed rival got hurt right in front of her eyes.

Seeing her tortured, even if only for a split second, caused her to let slip through her lips a pair of words that she never thought she'd hear herself speak. "Mysterio, stop!" she shouted in defense.

"Or else what?" he responded sarcastically.

"Or else Spider-Man will swoop in and kick you off the pedestal you've so created for yourself!" she warned him, hoping deep in her heart that Spider-Man and the gang were on their way to save her.

"If you don't keep that trap of yours shut, girl, your end will come sooner than expect-" Mysterio began before becoming interrupted by the blaring of an alarm at the computer monitor. Accompanied by the flashing of a red light that illuminated the room in an intense crimson hue, the alarm signified the progress of the lair's so-called "intruders" of which Daphne could just barely make out on the monitors. Mysterio turned around to face the security footage on the monitors where he could easily make out the silhouettes of the gang entering a dark, undisclosed area.

"And now the real show begins…" Mysterio stated ominously.

* * *

From what they could see, Spider-Man and the gang were in total darkness as if they had gone blind. Was this a new room or a black void full of nothing?

"It's too dark. Somebody got a light?" Fred asked, his voice trembling with uncertainty somewhat. While he managed to at least keep calm, he could easily make out the sound of Scooby and Shaggy's teeth chattering across the way.

"I don't need light as long as I got Spider Sense!" Spidey proclaimed as he strolled casually into the area with them.

Ignoring him, Velma shook her phone to awaken the flashlight function within it. She shone her light across the immediate area, making out only a few details through her glasses such as a grey concrete floor, what looked to be a giant teddy bear sitting in disrepair, and a bizarrely placed set of train tracks the function of which was unknown.

"It looks like we're in a prop house of some sort," she noted, unfazed by all the junk sitting around. "If my guesses are correct, this could be where Mysterio gets the equipment for his acts."

Shaggy laughed nervously. "Like, this is worse than before! Could somebody please hit the lights?"

In an instant, his wish was granted. As if the entire network of lights all turned on at once, the whole area became illuminated, drenched in white light as a bunch of contraptions sitting around began to swerve and whirl to life, revealing also two separate catwalks lining both sides of the room. Internally, the gang had mixed reactions, but Shaggy's was the most obvious as he sprang into Scooby's arms. The dog silently chattered his teeth with him. _Be brave, Shaggy. Be brave!_ he thought to himself.

From above them, a brown rectangular light fixture with two green spotlights began to shine down on them. Spidey's Spider Sense began blaring as he looked up to see the light flaring up as if about to fire something.

"Look out!" Spidey shouted as he signaled the group to move out of the way. Clueless as could be, Scooby and Shaggy caught wind of a green lightning bolt firing near their position as they leaped out of the way, startled, though thankfully not electrocuted. The gang collectively exclaimed in terror as lightning bolts landed all around them, signaling them to sprint ahead in a jiffy. Whilst they tried to get to safety ahead, Spidey noticed the contraption above them possessed the power to hover anywhere it wanted to seemingly at will.

No time to stand and watch his friends nearly get fried to death, Spidey took action by web rushing upward toward the contraption. The contraption continued to fire directly on him as he nimbly maneuvered all directions in an effort to avoid getting roasted himself. Once he neared the top, two robotic tentacles similar to that of Doc Ock's magically emerged from the light fixture. _Taking a bit of flare from my older villains, huh?_ Spidey though cleverly when, before he could dodge, the mechanical arms grabbed hold of him, squeezing him tight as they swung him down toward the floor below. Straight in front of him, Spidey made out an oversized running fan, the giant blades spinning violently ready to slice him to death. Unwilling to embrace this new definition of a world full of hurt, Spidey utilized his super strength to bust apart both tentacles, webbing and tangling them together. Like a rider in a bull rodeo, Spidey managed to lasso both tentacles around the center of the fan, shredding them up with a loud metallic whirl as he backed away to watch the fan fall apart at the seams.

"Hey, Mysterio!" Spidey called out. "How about being a little more original with your work?!"

Spidey couldn't have spoken sooner as he looked beyond the previous chaos to notice Fred, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby standing beneath a giant, red-eyed, seemingly robotic purple teddy bear slashing its giant claws at them. The gang clambered in all directions when suddenly a green ring of fire-like substance encircled them, cornering them to a point where they could no longer escape this monstrosity. Unable to pay attention to their cries for help, Spidey didn't need Spider Sense to know that they were in trouble so he swung toward them, arching over the ring of fire to land in the center and face the enormous teddy bear.

"Spider-Man! Like, help!" Shaggy exclaimed in terror with his dog hyperventilating from running in fear.

The bear slashed its giant claws downward towards Scooby and Shaggy who were ducking and scrambling out of the way when Spidey webbed two web shots towards its red eyeballs. His web residue covered the robot's eyes, but it certainly didn't slow the thing down any faster. Ever so efficiently, Spider-Man shot out two weblines that connected to its shoulders and propelled himself toward it, delivering an upward kick that sent him hurdling over the top of its head. Somehow, the bear knew where he ways and began slashing in his direction, but, before it could get the jump on him, Spidey grabbed its arm and twisted it off. Spidey pulled the robo bear's arm clean off, leaving exposed wires where it once protruded. Landing on the ground, the Web-head thought smart and launched the severed arm straight for the bear's chest. The claws dug right into its circuits, shutting it down on sight as it collapsed to the ground right near Fred and Velma.

"Thanks for the assist!" Velma shouted in congratulations.

"Don't thank me yet!" Spidey declared as the ring of smokey green fire died down around them.

Spidey then looked down to notice that the whole gang was now standing on the oddly placed train tracks he noticed earlier. Once he had the chance to look up, he was nearly blinded by a bright light showing his direction accompanied by a train whistle tweeting his direction.

"Whoa!" Spidey shouted as he and the gang braced for impact all in unison.

Before realizing it, the oncoming train phased right through them, its wacky circus colors surrounding them in a tunnel of holographic wonder. This wasn't what they ever expected to happen in addition to all the other wackiness going on around them. It was almost too much for the team cowards to take. Even so, they remembered Daphne and did their best to keep their composure.

"Illusions. Of course, Mysterio specializes in those!" Spidey noted to himself. "Guys, if you see anything out of the ordinary like that, know that it's probably an illusion of sorts!"

"Well, with all the fake technology we've been seeing attack us so far, I'm only certain we'll see more projections from here on," Velma concluded based on her surroundings. Hardly anyone could believe she was so nonchalant about everything going on around her.

"And if it's not, I'll call the shots!" Spidey promised.

Soon after the gang began to run ahead into an open area containing what looked to be a red and white circus tent - in the middle of a prop house?

"Let's head for that circus tent!" Fred ordered confidently. "I have a big hunch that's where Mysterio's keeping Daph-I mean all the girls!"

Velma noticed that Fred nearly tripped over his words. He knew what all Daphne meant to him now, but chose to keep it to herself. "We'll just have to find out together, won't we?"

Before Velma could answer, Spider Sense registered a new threat to Spidey as a series of pillars lined with golden dragon heads came rotating out of the ground where they stood. Scooby shuffled away in fear as soon as he realized the ground was giving in under his hind paw. He turned around to face the terror that awaited to attack him.

"Raggy, ragon!" he yelped, turning his owner's head in the direction of the nearest pillar.

The sight of what was about to occur gave Shaggy the creeps, but, with Spidey's words in mind, he took several deep breaths in an effort to stay calm. All around them , every dragon head's eyes began to glow a bright orange and Spidey's Spider Sense began blaring all around him, signaling him to pull Shaggy out of the way with a web.

"Look out!" Spidey shouted as he pulled Shaggy to the side to dodge a dart that immediately fired their direction. All at once, each dragon head began firing a barrage of darts in every direction, none of them caring whether they hit the gang or not.

"Zoinks!" exclaimed Shaggy in his usual catchphrase as he and Scooby began running ahead with Fred and Velma. "Like, I should've known!"

In a series of web swings that he carefully planned in his mind, Spidey made his way up toward the nearest catwalk lining the side of the big room. No time to worry about or carry his friends below to safety, he eventually made it out of range, swinging in all directions as he shot out web balls that webbed shut the mouths of each metallic dragon head shut. As if dealing with regular-sized mechanical dragons weren't already enough for him.

The more heads he webbed shut, the more he was able to clear a path for Mystery Inc. none of which had been darted just yet. Thankfully, though, with Spidey-like reflexes, Fred had been holding up an impenetrable sheet of ply metal he happened to be carrying with his trap supplies. The champ of traps knew just what he was doing as he created a landing spot for the darts before they could penetrate his own skin. _How efficient and brave_ , Spidey thought of his manliness.

"Wowzers!" Fred exclaimed, channeling the likes of a gadget-savvy inspector he once saw on TV.

"Fred, now's not the time for making a catchphrase!" Velma berated him. She knew that was important to him just as much as traps and Daphne, but clearly now wasn't the time or place for it.

"Just goes to show you I'm still trying!" Fred responded to which she rolled her eyes.

With their path cleared up enough to reach the circus tent nearby, Mystery Inc. believed themselves to be in the clear of traps bombarding them once and for all. However, Fred held them up as soon as he realized there was something else incoming: a pair of swinging axe pendulums. Without waiting for Spidey to catch up with them, Fred waited for the sharply-bladed axe pendulums to pass one more time before they would then dart past them and into the circus tent.

"Now!" Fred exclaimed as the four of them darted ahead into the red and white tent. Once safe from being sliced by blades of death, they looked back in order to call out to Spider-Man whom they noticed was taking swinging by to take care of the last few dart-shooting dragon heads. "Come on, Spider-Man!" Fred shouted as he signaled him in.

All in one fell swoop, Spidey came tumbling in past the blades of death and into the tent with them. With a sigh of relief, the door shut behind him. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to see another trap again.


	14. Facing the Giant

**Author's Note:** Hey, _guys! I've returned with the climactic chapter of this story! Had to take a little break in order to recuperate from all the writing fatigue I've been experiencing lately. That and I had to update the chapter to be a lot more plausible due to the previous iteration being a little contrived and a last minute decision on my end. So, without further adieu, witness the final battle that will determine the fate of Mysterio, Mystery Inc., and Spider-Man!_

* * *

"No! They've bypassed all my traps and illusions!" Mysterio exclaimed banging on the keyboard. He never should've underestimated the likes of Spider-Man, a bunch of meddling kids, and their dog. "Very well, then. Time to release the big boy!" He turned to stride out of the room before turning back to point at Daphne and the girls. "Don't get any sly ideas, girls!"

With a whip of his cape, the big baddie left out of the door as it slid upward with a whoosh.

All in an instant, Daphne felt hopeless for somebody, anybody, to come save her. After watching the security footage of Spidey and the rest of her own gang dodge the traps, it was clear to her that they were too occupied to look for them. It was times like this that the gang was always able to locate her and untie her, though there didn't seem to be any indication they were on their way. They probably couldn't even find their location for all they knew. And then, of course, she was now relying on Spider-Man to save her and get her places when she didn't want to herself. The fact that she believed him to be his knight in shining armor seemed less likely now that she knew he wasn't inbound for her location.

"Daphne, he's going to hurt our friends. What should we do?" MJ pleaded, looking around for a way out.

As she looked over at her newfound gal pals sitting adjacent to her, she remembered that one time she rolled out of the way the moment the Road Rager nearly ran over her back in Coolsville. This was the one time she became her own savior, relying on nobody to help her up when she could've easily done so. And so, based on this instinct alone, something, a new idea came to her ever so faintly even if she couldn't quite place her finger on it.

It seemed as though it was time for her to be more independent, save herself, _and_ her comrades.

Miraculously, she remembered she had placed a hairpin placed in the pocket of her Thorn-styled dress, but could she reach it? She moved her handcuffed hands toward her pocket in a way that nearly stretched them big time; when that didn't work, she leaned upward hoping to some force of nature that the hairpin would fall out. Soon as she heard it ping on the chair, she was in luck.

"Bingo!" she exclaimed triumphantly. She then bent her hand to grab hold of the pin and maneuvered it to pick into the lock portion of her handcuffs. With a click they unlocked, freeing her hands in the blink of an eye. "Yes!"

However, she would not forget about her newfound friends; she got up and uncuffed her friends who were just as grateful as she was to be free of restraints.

"Thanks, Daphne! We really owe you one!" Gwen offered to her new friend.

"Good job, Daph!" MJ said, reminding Daphne of Fred. "But how are we gonna help our friends? And where are the Hex Girls?"

Daphne stopped to ponder both questions. She then looked toward the nearest wall and found sitting there three samurai swords held up on stands, each with Mysterio's name on it. Her mind racing, she walked over to grab them and hand them over to her friends each of whom grabbed them by the holder. "Here, take these. They're likely our only source of defense until we can find something less… violent."

Both of them looked at the swords in amazement, ready to slice whatever came their way. The fun was just about to begin.

* * *

A few feet of traversing the inside of the giant circus tent and already Spidey and the gang could sense that danger was impending upon their arrival even if all was quiet for the moment. The lights lining the area had dimly lit the place to a point where the place resembled a rundown circus joint, long abandoned by it previous owners. Mysterio sure did have a thing for luring his victims into rundown locations.

"Big area, center stage, not much going on. A room like this could only mean this is where the boss emerges," Spidey quipped making note of the stage in the center of the large tent. Peter wasn't much of a video game player at the time, though he certainly possessed enough knowledge that large rooms in a 3D plane were almost always the boss room.

Suddenly, a quartet of stage lights flicked on and automatically and swerved their bright, cone-shaped beams of light toward the center stage as if controlled by some outside force. Oddly enough, something _did_ emerge from the purple smoke pouring from the central stage catching them all off guard: the Hex Girls. Collectively, they watched in shock and awe as Thorn revved up her fancy guitar, Dusk drum ran her sticks across her digital drums, and Luna rolled her fingers across her shiny new keyboard. The girls all hissed in unison, displaying their snake-like fangs as they each struck similar chords of their instruments. Seeing this, the gang felt somewhat relieved yet remained uneasy over the fact that they would just show up out of nowhere, unscathed, in a place like Mysterio's lair.

That didn't faze Velma, however.

"Guys, look it's the Hex Girls!" exclaimed Velma. "They sound more awesome than ever!" She fangirl screamed once more with a burning passion.

On the other hand, Spidey gave a look of confusion under his mask. "I don't think those are the Hex Girls," he stated otherwise.

Suddenly, the Hex Girls were shrouded in the thick of the purple smoke, their presence suddenly obscured by the mystery of the mist. From the mist then marched forward a small infantry of three Mysterio bots that zoned in toward the heroes in an arrow formation. Surely enough, this was, in fact, another illusion set up by the madman himself in an effort to throw them all in for a loop.

 _He always said, 'When in doubt, provide misdirection,'_ Spidey thought to himself. Still, these bots posed a serious threat to the four other non-superpowered beings in the group. Not willing to let them get hurt, Spidey stepped in front of everyone in a protective stance. "Everyone get back!" he commanded.

The three Mysterio bots then raised their hands, each forming a flaming fist pointed at Spidey who now stood guard of his friends as he prepared his webshooters. Before any of them could flinch a single fighting move, however, suddenly there came a feminine voice shouting, piercing the deadening silence of the pause between the combatants. The gang momentarily confused, a samurai sword suddenly sliced through the chest of the first Mysterio bot, cutting a clean hole into its chest. The sword then pulled back, allowing the bot to fall to the ground; in its place stood Daphne holding the sword, the gang surprised and relieved to know their friend made it out okay.

"Daphne!" Fred exclaimed of relief. "You're alive!"

Similar shouts then came from behind the clueless Mysterio bots as similar swords cut through their torsos, slicing them clean in half. Their parts then fell to the floor as Gwen and MJ stepped forward, MJ's hands shaking from using a weapon for the first time. Gwen, on the other hand, was used to holding her father's guns so really this wasn't anything new to her.

"And Gwen and MJ!" Velma announced. Spidey said nothing for the sake of protecting his identity.

"Like, how'd you guys get out?" Shaggy asked, curious to know how.

"It was easy," Daphne began. "I simply used my spare hairpin in my back pocket to uncuff us from the chairs Mysterio had us tied in. I don't watch action movies for nothing!"

"You saved yourself? Nice job!" Fred congratulated her. While it felt good in the bliss of the moment, Fred wasn't sure if that comment was warranted because Daphne often felt embarrassed about the fact that she got kidnapped all the time. Hopefully, she wouldn't give him trouble later.

"Good to know you're all okay," Spidey proclaimed his sympathy for his friends from beneath his mask. "What of the Hex Girls?"

"Not sure, but the best we can probably do is get out of here before Mysterio rears his ugly face again!" Gwen spouted sarcastically.

Before they could move a muscle, of the sudden the ground beneath the center stage began to rumble causing the gang to face it all in unison. From the green smoke now pouring from the center stage came a large upside down bowl about half the size of the large stage - which appeared smaller from where everyone stood. As the dome rose up, what followed was a gigantic green humanoid body lined with golden buttons about the size of small igloos. The giant continued to rise until more of its purple cape of epic proportions became visible. Gwen realized she spoke too soon since they found themselves faced with an imposingly large Mysterio, dome, cape, and all.

As the giant Mysterio stared them down, Spidey, his girls, and the gang knew, without a doubt, that this was their biggest challenge yet. Standing in its shadow was the least of their problems as they had to figure out how whether or not it was real or a hologram. Either way, the scare factors were present and because of that, each of them had just about the same reaction, but in different exciting, fearful terms.

"Zoinks!" exclaimed Shaggy.

"Rikes!" wailed Scooby as he instinctively leaped into Shaggy's arms.

"Jeepers!" Daphne followed, grasping her face in shock.

"Jinkies!" Velma added, raising her shoulders in fear.

Suddenly, it was Fred's turn to say _his_ catchphrase, which didn't exist at the moment. Though he personally was almost too shocked for words, he said the first thing that came to mind. "Gee whittakers!"

At long last, Fred thought of something he could live with saying. Daphne turned and smiled, proving to Fred that the words he chose were ultimately the perfect catchphrase for him. This little moment of the two of them connecting was then cut short by Mysterio's evil laugh, breaking the silence that followed.

"I've waited a long time for this! The day I'm finally able to crush Spider-Man with my immense ego!" Mysterio taunted, his looming giantness as intimidating as ever.

"Oh, please, can it with the ego already!" Spidey quipped, annoyed that he would pick now to boast about himself. "Just tell me where the Hex Girls are and I _might_ go easy on you!"

"The Hex Girls are somewhere you cannot reach. You'll never find them, Spider-Man!"

"Is it too late for us to be best friends who share each other's secrets?" Spidey joked, staring blankly at the massively reflective dome of Mysterio's helmet.

Without another word, Mysterio had already begun to summon a green cloud of thunder that shook the whole room, startling the heroes as they stepped away from the giant. To Spidey, this only spelled danger for his gal pals who still had no idea it was him under the mask. The rest of Mystery Inc. he trusted to help him take down this beast, though the last thing he ever wanted was for his friends to get hurt. Quickly, he signaled them specifically to flee the area while they dealt with him.

"You girls, go! Get out of here!" he he told Gwen and MJ to which they nodded. Although the area was full of traps, he trusted they were no longer active with the trap's controller focused on them. Glancing back at the giant Mysterio, Spidey sprayed an awfully thick wall of webbing against the entrance to protect their exit. With barely enough time to react, however, lightning had begun to blast around him and the Mystery Gang encouraging them to dart in different directions toward anywhere, but where the giant's feet stood firm.

From behind his back, the giant Mysterio summoned a gigantic, gleaming, silver samurai sword about half its size in its large, gloved hand and begun to swing it around like a kid with a baseball bat. Surprisingly, its movements were rather slow compared to the normal-sized Mysterio, which, to the gang's advantage, meant that even anyone who wasn't Spider-Man could easily read his next move before he struck. That still didn't retract from the shock factor of a giant sword travelling downward to swipe at Fred, Daphne, and Velma who were frantically sprinting around together.

"Get down!" Fred barked as he threw his gal pals to the ground, the sword just barely shaving off their hairs as its shadow passed over them.

From where he perched watching his newest friends on the run from a giant killer robot, Spidey launched two webs out toward the sword of which latched onto the blade and, with a tug, he just barely even got it to nudge. And so, unwittingly, the Web-head flung from his spot on the wall, somersaulting in midair as the giant Mysterio reached out his oversized hand in an effort to snatch his foe. Just moments before its hand shut, however, Spidey managed to flip the opposite direction in the air and zip over toward the surprisingly solid ceiling of the tent.

"Hey, what's wrong?! Is that size just for show?" Spidey quipped, forgetting for a moment that the odds of him winning were stacked against him.

The giant clenched its fist in resentment of the tiny Spider-Man's relentless banter and fired more green lightning bolts at his position. Green bolts whizzed by as Spider-Man maneuvered his body in all directions, flipping off the wall and launching another web toward the ceiling that carried him around the giant Mysterio's helmet. Using his oldest tactic in the book, he shot multiple web balls at the giant Mysterio's helmet covering it in a sticky substance to a point where it seemed like it was going blind. Although it lost sight of Spider-Man as he tumbled toward where Fred, Daphne, and Velma had landed, the giant Mysterio's helmet had begun to glow - something the original Mysterio had no capability of doing. Much to their surprise, the giant Mysterio's helmet had produced a series of electric shocks that ultimately removed the webbing stuck to its helmet. Finally able to see again, the giant became distracted by screams emanating from the other side of the arena.

On the other side of the room, Scooby and Shaggy were blindly sprinting as their frightened selves away from where the giant had been distracted by Spider-Man. Having already begun to lumber loudly around the arena in pursuit of them, the menacingly huge Mysterio plunged its sword toward the ground in front of them, its impact creating a dent in the floor as the duo skidded to a halt. The reflective sword displaying them their frightened reactions, they turned around only to be met with the same sword being dropped into the ground, thus cutting another hole in the ground from which water sprayed. Feeling trapped, Scooby and Shaggy held each other tight as they stared up at the giant Mysterio, which had slowly been preparing an execution stance to slice them apart.

"Any last questions, Scoob?!" Shaggy asked his loyal dog, trembling before the beast that was about to chop them up into sushi.

"Questions?" Scooby asked rather curiously in return. This was obviously not the time to ask about asking questions.

"Yeah, like, what would Spider-Man do?!" Shaggy questioned hoping for an instant answer on how to mimic his hero without getting himself or Scooby killed. And then, the dog remembered all that coaching Spider-Man had given them; the way he encouraged them to stop eating and focus, the way he told them to be brave for Daphne. The whole time they had run about the prop house, he had barely demonstrated a hint of bravery aside from trying to comfort Shaggy in his distress. Now that they were about to die, though, Scooby knew he had to man up somehow or all the effort Spidey went through to coach them would be nothing. And so, in a moment's notice, Scooby's expression turned from that of a frightened pup to that of a brave wolf as he had thought of one way to get out of the situation at hand.

"Stand back, Shaggy!" Scooby barked, kicking Shaggy off him in an effort to run away from the large sword that had now begun to fall upon them.

"Wait! SCOOBY-DOO!" Shaggy exclaimed rather desperately as he witnessed his dog run the opposite direction from where he sat, his hind legs nearly impacted by the sword landing behind him.

Without stopping even for a second to worry about what lay behind him, Scooby made a run for it toward the giant Mysterio, braver than ever knowing he was protecting his owner. In an effort to lure the robot away from his friends, Scooby ran in between the giant's legs, confusing its line of sight.

"What?!" Mysterio exclaimed. "Get back here, you houndish fiend!"

The robot slowly lumbered the other direction in an effort to catch Scooby. Soon as he locked his sight back toward the dog, Mysterio began to drop his sword toward him in an effort to crush him; water continued to spray up from wherever its sword impacted the ground, indicating that he had struck some pipes beneath the ground. Feeling the water beginning to hinder its movement, the giant Mysterio resorted to utilizing its feet instead to squash the teensy dog beneath its heal. Despite this, Scooby was still faster.

And so, without much hesitation, Mysterio waved his hand over the base of the circus tent, his powers summoning a ring of green fire that engulfed around Scooby. The dog skidded to a halt realizing that the many different directions he could have run away were now sealed off in a small, enclosed circle of colorful, yet somehow odorless fire.

"Scooby, NO!" Velma shouted in horror from a distance where she stood watching.

"You'll get crushed!" Fred and Daphne shouted together, jinxing each other rather suddenly.

"Not on my watch!" Spidey shouted angrily as he frantically shot out more weblines to reach Scooby.

As Scooby found himself cornered in the midst of the ring of fire, he looked up to witness Mysterio's imposingly large heal - motor exposed - raised in a position ready to crush him. At this moment, Scooby was done being scared; no longer did he shake in fear at the image of this week's villain about to crush him. Instead, he took in a breath of bravery, chest puffed out as he shut tight his eyes, waiting for his impending demise at the hands of the wizard. If there was any way he wanted to go out, it was to go out being brave for a change.

Mysterio's foot came crashing down toward him, its heal getting bigger with every passing millisecond. All in a moment, he found himself yanked off the ground just before giant Mysterio's foot struck the ground, creating a large crashing noise that resonated throughout the tent. Scooby then opened his eyes to realize he had been caught in Spider-Man's heroic clutches, the web-slinger circling away from the giant with ease at high speeds.

"Ruh?" Scooby opened his eyes. "Rider-Man!"

"The one and only!" Spidey winked at Scooby from underneath his mask. The Web-head then turned to spray an entire web net down toward Mysterio's oversized foot, pinning it to the ground momentarily as the robot struggled to regain ground. As Spider-Man swung himself and Scooby out of the robot's field of vision, they spotted the rest of Mystery Inc. regrouping nearest the wall of webbing that covered the tent's entrance. And so, Spidey zeroed in on the group, himself dropping to the ground to stand next to them as he dropped off Scooby next to Shaggy. "Next time, try staying safe while playing the hero. It's mostly my job after all."

Scooby nearly frowned in response to Spidey's boasting. "Sorry, Spider-Man. I had to save Raggy."

"Well, like, I'm okay," Shaggy butted in. "Thanks, Scoob!"

Scooby smiled. Unlike a certain frightened shaggy guy, he seemed to know when to unlock his inner brave man - or dog in his case.

"We need to figure out how to take that thing down," Velma suggested, still trembling nervously from the robot's intimidating size. "Any ideas?"

"I saw a motor underneath its foot as I passed under trying to save Scooby," Spidey noted. "Maybe we ought to hit that?"

"Maybe it's a must," Daphne contributed, still holding her samurai sword from earlier. "Fred, do you have your trap… stuff handy?"

"Don't worry, Daph, I have just the supplies for that," Fred said, removing a long strand of rope from his supply sack he had been carrying. Even though he had used it plenty before, he knew it would come in handy.

"How's a rope gonna fair against that thing? Are we gonna trip it or misdirect it?" Velma asked of concern, trying not to sass Fred for a change. In a life or death situation, it seemed she was trying to at least show _some_ appreciation.

"Exactly! Mysterio's all about misdirection and so _we_ ought to pull the same trick on _him_. First, I'll pretend to be setting up a trap like I always do. You guys'll run around until you converge toward me and my fake trap. And, since that thing doesn't corner well, it'll use the ring of fire to trap _us_ and attempt to squash us like it tried to do to Scooby." He turned to Spider-Man. "After that, he'll be so distracted, you'll have a clear shot at the motors in his feet!"

"Roger that, Fred-o!" Spidey signaled with a peace sign before swinging off to hide in the shadows.

From there, Spidey waited on gang's diversion. The Mysterio bot regained its ground after breaking free of the web net and turned to notice Fred tying his rope to the bottom of the nearest tightrope pole. Fred then turned and ran with the rope toward the other side.

"Insolent trap master!" Mysterio insulted. "You think you can trap me through means of a simple tripping of my feet?"

"Hey, Mysterio!" called out Velma's voice. "Catch me if you can!"

Along with Scooby and Shaggy next to her, Velma turned and ran the opposite direction from where Fred had been running.

"Fools! You dare think to outsmart _me_?!"

Mysterio raised his empty hand in an effort to zap the group with a lightning bolt. Suddenly, the giant felt a poke in its toe and turned to face downward to see who caused it. Surely enough, it was Daphne with her samurai sword as she quickly turned to run away in her long Thorn dress.

"This poses no threat to the almighty Mysterio!"

He shot another lightning bolt from his hand near her forcing her to leap out of the way. He then summoned another lightning bolt toward Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby, which forced them to converge toward their friends who were all running to the center of the arena. Soon as they all neared each other, the giant Mysterio summoned yet another ring of fire around them, engulfing their surroundings in a screen of green flames that reflected well off of Velma's glasses. From the distant shadowy corners of the tent, Spidey noticed the distraction had worked and began to swing toward them.

"Any last words before I pound you mystery kids into oblivion?" Mysterio taunted, raising his right foot in preparation to crush them once and for all.

To this, Fred only smirked as he embraced the gang around him. For a moment, it looked as though the gang were getting ready to die together when, from the shadows leaped out Spider-Man, swooshing through the air and gripping on to Mysterio's heal.

"What?!" Mysterio exclaimed.

Spidey shot a strand of web straight into the robot's motor foot, causing it to stop whirring and creating showers of electric shocks that signaled him to jump off.

"NO!"

From midair, Spidey shot out two strands of web that latched onto the giant edges of Mysterio's foot. Heroically, he thrust himself forward, feet first as his body sliced right through the motor, shattering it to pieces.

"THIS CANNOT BE!"

In a spectacular maneuver, Spidey slid under the other foot as he shot out a shower of web balls to help clog the motor fan. Without hesitation, he jettisoned two additional weblines and flipped himself backwards, propelling himself right through the other motor. With an agonizing scream of defeat, Mysterio fell backwards slowly to the ground with nothing left to support his movement as he dropped his huge samurai sword. With a loud thud, the robot fell on the floor as Spidey landed softly next to his mystery gang friends, the ring of fire around them fading away and letting them go free.

"You know what they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall!" Spidey joked. To this, Daphne simply smiled and chuckled knowing that he did the most heroic thing he had done all trip in taking down a giant killer robot. Even so, she personally felt she owed Fred the idea of providing misdirection to a master deceiver and so, with that, she took his hand and shook it in congratulations. Fred was awestruck by her sudden impulse, but he smiled in return knowing she still appreciated him.

Suddenly, a door whooshed open behind them, turning their heads in the direction in which it came from. From behind it appeared the Hex Girls in the flesh. But were they just another illusion?

"Hey, guys," the real Thorn announced. "Thanks for saving us back there!"

"Wait, we did - what?!" Fred asked, shocked that they would just appear like that - and to what effect?

"That robot was key to freeing us," Thorn explained as she and her girls approached the gang. "The wizard had connected the door and our electronic cuffs to the robot thinking the fight wouldn't turn in your favor."

"But it did and, for that, we are eternally grateful!" Luna thanked her saviors, showing her softer side once more.

"You guys rock!" Dusk complimented as the gang smiled back at them.

The gang then turned to witness the real life-sized Mysterio tearing himself out from the inside of the robot, which had broken open after falling. Coughing and swatting away at the smoke surrounding him, Mysterio's feet began to wobble as if being affected by the impact of his mech falling. Ultimately, he fell over onto his face, defeated and humiliated more than ever before. Now was the perfect time more than ever to unmask him as Spidey approached him ever so happily. "Guys, I'd like you all to meet the famed, the fearsome…" Spidey paused for effect as he pulled off Mysterio's bubble bowl revealing the fair face of the Hex Girls' security guard.

"Quentin Beck?!" everyone and the Hex Girls exclaimed in unison.

"I could almost sense it coming a mile away!" Velma said raising a finger in affirmation. From under his mask, Spidey gave a sly smile in response to her pseudo Spider Sense-like ability to detect suspects like a police dog.

"So now you know it's me," Beck stated, seemingly feigning surrender. "The mystery of Mysterio is no more!"

"So then why'd you do it, Beck?" Spidey said raising the man above the ground to where he would talk. "Better give us answers or we'll…" Spidey had run out of threats. "I don't know what we'll do."

"Enough with the threats," Beck said shutting up the hero to explain his story. "It's because of those girls over there!"

The Hex Girls gasped as he pointed their direction, the girls realizing he was talking about them.

"I was having the time of my life playing special effects artist for them ladies. People ooed and awed at my handiwork - all of it made authentically. Then Daniel Prezette stepped in and literally stole the spotlight - _my_ spotlight - with his fancy gadgets. When they chose him over me, my special effects were deemed not good enough and I was reduced to the role of security guard. From there I found no real use for my special effects talents; and so I concocted a simple revenge plan to get back at everyone for shoving _me_ off the face of the Earth. By creating the Mysterio persona, I went on a crime spree, stealing whatever I could to make them pay; when I got the attention of Spider-Man instead, I decided to directly sabotage each and every one of their shows _and_ Prezette's remote. My illusions and special effects were so elaborate that I eventually kidnapped the Hex Girls to make it look like they had fallen off the face of the Earth just as I did."

Beck had been talking for such a long time that everyone was very much bored, nodding and spacing off just waiting for the punchline about the meddling kids.

"I was that much closer to being back in the spotlight! And I would've had it made too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids, your dog, _and_ Spider-Man!" Beck finally finished.

"Heard it a million times, savage," Velma sassed, recalling an earlier incident in which he mentioned that the Hex Girls may one day be irrelevant. Now, thanks to the efforts of Mystery Inc. and Spider-Man, they could once again rock out and remain relevant in the world for years to come.

* * *

 **I feel like I may have done a decent job in writing a climactic chapter, but I would be grateful for your guys' feedback on how it turned out. In the meantime, I will have the final chapter up very soon!**


	15. Renew and Adieu

**Author's Note:** _Hello, readers! This story is still happening!_ _As the author, I knew I had to finish what I started. I just wasn't exactly feeling my last few chapters initially as most of my first drafts were rushed in an effort for me to get the story out ASAP as opposed to carefully planning the climactic set pieces. And so, now that they've been fixed, I hereby present the concluding chapter that neatly ties everything together. Enjoy!_

* * *

Later on, when night had passed over the land, the police arrived at the scene of the rundown apartment to arrest Beck who had been thrown into a cop car and driven away like any petty criminal. Even though he was of supercriminal status, he still deserved the petty criminal treatment of being driven to Rykers for his crimes of disturbing the peace, damaging property, and abducting not three, but _six_ different girls - five of which were now interviewing Captain Stacy on their abduction.

From where he stood with the Mystery Gang and his friends watching the madman get hauled off, Spidey pointed to his most recent capture with pride lining his unseen face.

"Off to Rykers with that one!" Spidey boasted as if he took care of it all himself.

"Just remember, if it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have taken him down yourself," Fred chimed in, giving an all-inclusive praise for, not just himself, but his gang too. For once, Fred showed humility no one had seen yet.

"Aww, really it was no biggie," Spidey remarked, showing more confidence in himself before lowering his hands in submission. "Well, really, if it wasn't for you guys and your trap tactics, I wouldn't have had a band of unlikely allies to help me out, so thanks!"

The gang collectively smiled together at the humility displayed in Spider-Man's expression of gratitude. Their debt was to him after all that had happened since their arrival in Manhattan; after joining their team and giving them their support, their most recent adventure had been a thrill ride unlike any other. The way he helped them discover the clues to the mystery, evade traps and illusions, rescue them at every turn - especially Danger-prone Daphne - and take down a giant killer robot in their favor was all worth it in the end.

That and their comradery; they couldn't have made more likely allies, unlike what Spider-Man said. Between Fred's planning, Daphne's winging, Velma's brains, Shaggy's instinct, and Scooby's bravery, Spidey saw lots of pieces of himself in the gang that made him that much more compatible with them. With him still being too young to join the Avengers, he basically started his own team he could rely on for years to come.

"Don't mention it… Spider-Man!" Velma responded, protective of his secret of which Daphne and the other girls still bore no knowledge of.

"Don't suppose you would've guessed it was Quentin Beck yourself?" Spidey asked her of curiosity. According to their vlogs, she was always the one who guessed the culprit prior to their big reveal.

"There was a strong possibility, but I wasn't too certain," Velma began. "He _did_ say something about the Hex Girls becoming irrelevant in today's world, but even that was subtle. However, he was also the one person who had access to the band's backstage area, special effects assistant, _and_ their hotel location. No doubt he knew our location too if he had his methods."

"Wow, Velma, are you like omniscient or something?!" Spidey asked sarcastically.

"What can I say? I'm just that smart!" Velma pointed to her thick cranium in pride.

"Like, you said it, Velm!" Shaggy added.

"Reah!" Scooby giggled with cheer knowing he was safe with her.

Daphne laid a shoulder on Velma prompting the latter to turn her direction. The two of them smiled at each other before turning back to face Spider-Man. This moment couldn't have been more definite between the six of them. After that giant Mysterio robot attacked them, there was nothing quite like the company of a band of likely heroes relishing their victory knowing that a superpowered being had their back the whole way through. Seeing as their Spring Break was ending soon, however, there would only be a matter of time before they had to part ways again. Even so, they would cherish every moment they spent with either Peter Parker _and_ Spider-Man until they departed.

* * *

Having recovered from the trauma of being kidnapped, the Hex Girls went on to perform their ultimate concert in New York. It took place in the same Central Park arena set up before, only this time their performance finally went uninterrupted knowing that the menace of Mysterio was finally doing his time. Lights flashed and smoke poured across the stage as the band rocked out with their latest hit "It's A Mystery" causing the audience to go as crazy as possible. MJ and Gwen were rather proud yet at the same time, they found a new appreciation taking it easy at concerts. As crazy as it was to get kidnapped by Mysterio, they decided to just simply take it easy with Peter by their side like always. Boy, was he sure glad they were safe and unharmed after what happened before.

And for a change, the Mystery Gang wasn't backstage; instead, they decided to take some time to be with their new friends - the "Midtown clique" according to Velma. Already, Gwen and Peter had much appreciation for them - especially the former with Velma - and so, upon request, they got to have the day off from being bodyguards to just sit back and hang out with one another. It definitely helped now that Daphne and MJ were friends after bonding in their journey to pose as the band before they got kidnapped. All it took was Daphne realizing MJ wasn't a bad person to get them to open up to one another; boy, did Daphne steer herself wrong.

After all that trap and illusion busting back in the lair, Peter sure was fond of the company he got to spend time with. Just the thought of his best friends hanging out with his biggest role models was enough to put him at ease knowing that they wouldn't have to face the likes of Mysterio sabotaging the show any longer.

Despite that, he soon realized there was one thing he neglected to think about during his recent episode: his best friend, Harry.

Prior to being rushed to the hospital, Harry had left Peter on a bitter note stating that they weren't friends anymore, and for illogical reasons too. And so, Peter began to worry about what Harry would think of him, his smiling at the concert's presentation turning into a slump of shame as he turned away. What would Harry think of this? Silently, he walked away from his new clique, garnering the attention of Gwen who spotted him leaving first.

"Hey, what's up with Peter?" Gwen asked of concern before she nudged her best friend.

"Probably off to take photos again," MJ assumed predictably. "Either that or we need to give him time."

As he departed from the crowd, the music slowly began to fade behind Peter. His head down, slowly, but surely, he could feel his connection to the gang severing all because he didn't want to let his best friend down. _If only there'd be some way to remedy this_ , Peter thought to himself. He searched his mind for a way to make things right in this situation. Would he go to the hospital and tell Harry he's sorry for hanging out with some new friends he didn't know were going to be in town? Or would he run back to the gang, lie and say he had to go home early, vowing to never see them again? Whatever the outcome, Peter felt the need to make his choice.

Suddenly, Peter's hearing honed in on a thud hitting the ground right in front of him, startling him almost. In an instant, he had his thoughts and choices broken up by the person standing in front of him whoever it was. He looked up to find that the person stepping in front of them was somebody with crutches. That somebody… was Harry.

"S'up, Pete?" his best friend called out to him.

"Harry," Peter said, craning his neck to peer over at his crew. "What are you doing… out of the hospital like this?"

"Only the miracles of modern medicine, Pete. Plus, I hear this is a Mystery Inc. hotspot." His words caused Peter's stomach to jolt somewhat with surprise, yet somewhat with joy. "You think I could maybe squeeze in with you guys?"

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Peter squinted, motioning his hands in demand for his friend to hold up. "You mean _the_ Mystery Inc.?!"

"Yeah, man. I heard about their heroics in taking down Mysterio with Spider-Man - whom I must add is a cool guy. And so I figured I should find a way to get to know them before they leave."

Peter could not believe his ears. His best friend, the one whom he worried would disapprove of him bonding with Mystery Inc. again, had all of the sudden developed a change of heart toward the group all because of a simple news report? And he was willing to go out of his way to be with them prior to their departure? The moment the smoke and lights raised behind him, Peter smiled, overjoyed to hear that his best pal in the whole world was no longer jealous of his new friends. Whether his dad told him something, or he decided for himself was a mystery, but it was a mystery Peter was willing to accept as unsolvable.

"Well then, Harry, come right this way!" Peter motioned his arm into a swing to guide him toward where Mystery Inc. stood. For the first time in roughly two days, Peter had the chance to walk with the most important pal in the world even if he was getting around on crutches. All he needed now was for him to officially apologize.

"Look, Pete, I just wanted to say I'm sorry about all this. I acted overly jealous of your new friends to a point where I failed to realize that they're just a bunch of wannabe cool kids, you know, kinda like you and me. Plus my dad says I shouldn't be afraid to expand my horizons - especially when it comes to music and making friends."

There it was. Everything Peter needed to hear.

"It's alright, Harr," Peter started off. "I know I might have come off like a jerk at times, but I promise it won't happen again. I just hope you can forgive me for blowing you guys off like I usually do."

"You're forgiven, Pete. I just hope you can forgive me."

"Forgiveness in full, Harry!"

Soon as their exchange concluded, they approached their gang from the backside, listening to their cheers as they waved their arms. The Hex Girls were now transitioning to a new song that talked about petrified brides - a song which, while not on their CD, at least got some attention from the superfans. Just the simple fact that Harry reconciled his feelings of jealousy and was now hanging out with their old friends as well as accepting new ones to put them at ease knowing there was a sense of unity between them. This night just couldn't have gotten any better.

Surely enough, the entire gang - Midtown and Mystery gangs - all piled into the Silver Spoon later that evening following the concert. Once they claimed a rather large booth fit for all nine of them, Peter squeezed in first to sit across from Scooby and Shaggy while Gwen sat across from Velma and Daphne to MJ. This left Fred to sit facing Harry on the edge of the table - the perfect setup for the end of a perfect day. The place was a dream come true for Scooby and Shaggy's eating habits. Whilst they chowed down on two orders of beef stroganoff, the gang began to have conversations of their own regarding previous events, their best interests, as well as the simple fact that they were all together. In addition, Harry decided to open up and share the fact that he was rich with the gang. This garnered the attention of Daphne who was equally so according to Fred at least.

"So you and Peter have sleepovers regularly at your dad's penthouse?" Daphne asked him. "That must be quite the view especially for him."

"Eh, it's not much," Harry responded, being so used to the Manhattan skyline that it wasn't really a novelty to look at anymore. "Besides, what I wouldn't give to have a mansion on the ground. Like the X-Mansion, but better!"

"You could always visit Blake Mansion in Coolsville someday," she offered. "We have everything from a pool to a basketball court and enough room space for me to sneak the gang over for sleepovers."

"Her parents claim that they can't stand me because of my status as the 'Jones boy'," Fred butted in, remembering all the times his traps freaked them out.

"Is that because of all your traps and such?" Harry asked.

"Admittedly, but I am grateful that they help in dire situations for the most part," Fred boasted.

"Well, no matter if you guys are trap experts or rich like me, I've come to realize that you're all very cool," Harry complimented. This was the first compliment he gave to them and he felt proud of it.

"Aww, thanks, Harry! You're so sweet!" Daphne replied.

"Yeah, thanks for the support!" Fred followed.

Harry's face went from stoic to smiley all in an instant. "Don't mention it, guys!" It was the first time he had ever felt a true change of heart. He had all the reasons to be jealous of Peter beforehand, but hanging out with his best friend's idols made him see fully just how wrong he was. If anything, he finally learned to be more accepting of new friends coming into town.

Although unaware of his initial distaste, Fred wondered if that jealousy Daphne harbored toward MJ still lingered. They were getting along just fine, but something still nagged at the back of his mind and he couldn't put his finger on what it was. If she was only faking it, she seemed to be doing an impressively good job at acting. Then again, Velma would probably use logic and reasoning to deduce that she wasn't. And, yet still, he wasn't Velma. Hoping to find remedy for his discomfort, Fred laid a hand on Daphne's to get her attention.

"Daphne, can I see you for a second?" he asked anticipatedly.

"Sure, what's up?" she responded.

"I'll tell you outside."

The two of them got up from where they were seated away from all the fun conversation and meandered out the door nearby. The night air was beginning to show signs of Spring warmth, which made perfect for the fact that Fred was about to unthaw his frozen heart after what felt like an eternity of hiding his feelings from the person who needed to hear them most. When it was all over, he knew it would finally be worth it. The two of them stood on the curb watching one another as cars flashed their lights toward them before venturing off into the distance. Fred didn't care about the world around him. All he knew was that he had to get some things off his chest.

"Look, I just wanna say how sorry I am about all this. Between making you think I loved MJ to completely neglecting a counter trap for Mysterio and then you nearly getting hurt, I have every reason to feel bad about this trip," Fred started, relieved to get that out of the way.

"It's okay, Fred," Daphne said after letting him finish for a change. "It was mostly my fault for not thinking straight. I completely misread your signs with her and then, when Spider-Man came, I didn't think I needed your help anymore. So, ultimately, I think I need to apologize for being so selfish and over-reliant on my assumptions." She paused. "I hope this doesn't make you see me any differently."

This was such an unexpected twist for Fred that he almost didn't know what to say. Here he thought he was supposed to be the one to apologize. "You're forgiven, Daph. I never would have seen you any other way. I mean, I definitely enjoy the idea of redheads and, well… maybe I was just too blind to see that… you're the best of them."

This was it; the exact words Daphne had been waiting for. She gasped in awe of his sweet words thus far. "You really mean that, Fred?"

"Yeah, what's not to love about you? You got great looks, a nice personality, and a sense of trust to you that I can hardly match. What every girl wouldn't give to be you, Daph."

Daphne's eyes were welling up in total happiness towards Fred's sweet words. She knew, without a doubt, that Fred tended to have trouble expressing his feelings, but this was all the proof she needed to know that she really meant the world to him. And for a change he didn't stumble over what he was trying to say. It was almost as if he learned to wear his heart on his sleeve.

"Oh, Freddy. Thank you!" Daphne leaped in to hug him to which he almost didn't hug back because he was somewhat surprised by her sudden, but warranted affection.

"Don't mention it, Daph," Fred said in return, nearly fazed by her energetic response.

Ultimately, he wrapped his arms around her willfully, vowing to himself never to let her go, no matter if someone were to split them apart.

* * *

The rest of the night was very much everybody talking about what new adventures awaited for them before they had to leave. As the Mystery gang waved goodbye to the Midtown clique, they were certain one day their posses would cross paths again - if only time allotted for it. And so the Mystery Gang drove the Mystery Machine back to their hotel for the last time ready to sleep for one last night in Manhattan knowing they finally solved yet another mystery.

Meanwhile, Harry dropped off Peter and MJ at their next door homes and waved them farewell, leaving them alone in the moonlight. Time seemed to stop there for a moment as Peter thought about what to say to her regarding his own stuff he had to get off his chest. If only he had known about what Fred got off his chest before then he wouldn't be at such a loss. However, after Fred told him he ought to open up, he knew someone had to learn of his identity soon enough.

"So, MJ…" he trailed off, uncertain of where to take the conversation besides the most obvious place.

"Yeah, Pete?" she asked him, her interest sparked.

"Not that there's a problem, but there's something you ought to know."

"What's that?"

He searched for words beyond even his own comprehension. A sense of obligation to do it overrun him and yet there was an air of hesitation holding him back. It was now or never to tell her who he was.

"I'm…" he cut himself off keeping MJ waiting in suspense. He sighed and lowered his head to which she gave him a look of concern in return, wondering what he was about to say. Finally, he lifted his face to her. "Maybe it's better if I show you."

He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a silvery metallic webshooter lining his wrist. From it, he spun a short strand of silky spider that latched onto her hip catching her off guard. Without much time to react, MJ found herself yanked right into Peter's arms, her breath caught in exhilaration.

"Whoa, Tiger! Getting a little antsy there with your webs?" she said as she held him at the shoulders.

"'Spidery' is more like it," he responded cleverly looking down and fidgeting with his shooters. "So, yeah, this… is me, and… I wasn't sure if you would care, but-"

She shushed him. "No buts, Tiger. I always knew."

 _She knew?!_ He thought to himself. She had to have known. After all those times she stood up for him when Gwen, Harry, and even his deals with Mystery Inc. were giving him trouble, she was the only one who understood. There was a strong chance she may have seen him jump out the window a few times, but he didn't feel the need to worry about it. All he did was smile at her as she smiled back. The two then leaned into one another, pressing the other's lips firmly against the other silently sealing the deal with a kiss. This was the moment that Peter knew, more than ever that he loved MJ enough to even share secrets with her.

"So I take it you're not made a me, huh?" he asked her firmly.

"I may have seen you sneak out a few times," she confirmed.

"Pretty please keep this to ourselves?"

"Your wish is my command!" she ultimately affirmed. If anything, she could now be his loyal sidekick and no one would care. If there was anyone in the world he could trust, it would have to be her.

* * *

As the Hex Girls' tour bus took the highway that steered them out of Manhattan and the Mystery Machine followed, Scooby and the gang looked back on the big city that now lied behind them. It sure was a nice change of pace for them mentally and physically. For one, they could now say they've set foot in a big city before. And two, they got the chance to meet and work with a superhero that frequently took care of everything they did, but in a much bigger sense. Daphne especially sighed over the fact that it would only be a matter of time before any of them needed Spider-Man again - whenever their next big case would be.

"It's so sad we have to leave Manhattan behind," Daphne commented. "No more big buildings, no more central shopping districts… no more Spider-Man."

"Yeah," Fred chimed. "And we were just getting to know the guy too."

Daphne's eyes widened over the realization that, as much as she initially loved Spider-Man, she never had the chance to know what he was like or even who he was under the mask. "Yeah… I guess we can save that for another day…" she trailed off before turning directly toward Fred, curious to know he meant anything more by what he just said. "Unless you know something that I don't."

"Uh, what? I'm not sure what you're talking about," Fred said, locking eyes with her. After a moment of awkward silence, the two simply giggled next to one another, enjoying each other's company in the fullest. Hopefully, it could be like this more often.

From behind them, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby were talking to one another about their next moves. Velma had been reading the Mystery Machine's computer, scanning for any possible criminal activity on the way to their next destination on tour with the Hex Girls.

"I've picked up satellite readings of the area ahead. It looks to me like our next location should be relatively low on masked criminal activity," she observed reading out crime statistics for their next stop in New Jersey.

"Like, that's good news for us!" Shaggy began to leap for joy inside. "But if we encounter anything we'll just remember everything Spider-Man said! Won't we, Scoob?"

Scooby winked at him. For once in his long dog life, he felt there would be a possibility of him actually manning up to the foes he would catch on a regular basis. And so, he walked up to the front of the van and stuck his head out of Daphne's window, sticking out his dog chest in pride of his role as both team mascot and scout.

"Scooby-Dooby-DOO!" Scooby howled off into the distance as the fresh air signified what new adventures awaited him next time. "And Spider-Man, too!"

* * *

 **Thank you all SO much for reading! It has been a pleasure of mine to finally put out a full story worth telling onto this website that anyone can read and enjoy! However, even right now I am not completely satisfied with the final result. I am still considering maybe a chapter or two to make parts of it feel a little more "complete" (i.e.: the Hex Girls, Mysterio's fate, etc.). So, without further adieu, expect a little bit more to be done and, for now, I hope you all enjoyed the main story as I enjoyed writing/rewriting it.**

 **You guys have good days and, until next time, Mastah Jasonic signing off!**


	16. Behind Bars

**Author's note:** _Hello, Fanfiction readers! I have returned to this story once more to add a little something that could provide anticipation for more of what's to come in this potential series. I wasn't sure I could simply leave the adventures of Scooby-Doo and Spider-Man at one installment that I just_ had _to set up another! For that matter, I wrote this also to partially confirm a fan theory that took place in the comments of this story throughout its stages of development. For those who weren't expecting another chapter, consider this a treat for anyone of you who wanted more from this story idea. Enjoy it, readers!_

* * *

Quentin Beck could not believe himself. He hadn't fully relied on the prospect of his own foes turning his own strategy against him and now he found himself in the midst of a Rykers cell with all the other criminal low-lifes like him. If anything comforted him it was the fact that he was now amongst his own kind. He hated pretending to be such a goody-two-shoes for the likes of anyone above his status - especially the Hex Girls. Now that he didn't have to deal with them anymore though, he had more room to meditate on something, anything, to get him out of prison when he could.

Then he remembered it was almost his turn to phone someone for the day. He could phone a family member, an ally. Whoever it took for him to find a way out of prison would be the day that Mystery Inc. and Spider-Man would rue forever.

"Mr. Beck, you're free to phone someone for the day," said the jail guard approaching his cell. "Whatever you do, don't try anything stupid."

There was an air of certainty as Beck made his way across the prison towards the phoning room, the guards escorting him to ensure he didn't act out of line. Little did they know of what was going on in the midst of his twisted criminal mind with every step he took toward potential freedom. Somehow Beck knew that he was going to get back at those who put him away and that nothing would prevent him from doing so.

Soon as the guards let him off at the jail payphone, he dialed the one number he could trust: 555-0142. He waited patiently for the dial ringing to end when, suddenly and thankfully, a familiar Russian voice rang true over the speaker.

"State your service," the voice demanded.

"Hello, Dmitri," said Beck. "Surely you've heard about the defeat of Mysterio at the hands of some meddling kids and a well-known Web-head, haven't you?"

"News has circulated like a cold virus, Quentin," Dmitri replied. "So you've been hauled off to jail haven't you?"

"I'm in Rykers with the rest of, if not most of, Spider-Man's villains and other criminals," Beck stated. "Not to worry for at least now I don't have to worry about teaming with those pathetic Hex Girls on a regular basis anymore."

"Excellent!" Dmitri exclaimed proudly.

"Indeed. Now I have to ask, have you been tracking the kids to their next location?"

"Their next location is New Jersey, Beck. Once the tour is finished, I am well aware of where they'll end up and it's exactly where I'll need to be."

"Terrific! So once you've taken care of that, will you be able to help me out of this joint?"

"It'll have to wait a few months for there is to be a certain timeline that must be followed. Once I've enacted that, I'll get my share along with my special accomplice."

Beck nodded somewhat shyly, dreading the possibility of waiting that long to spend his payback. "Mm-hmm… And what's in it for me?"

"Trust me, as soon as I uncover the treasure of Coolsville, there'll be nothing left of the Mystery Gang to report any more mysteries and you'll be free as a bird to extract your revenge. Once that's in play, nothing will stop us from spreading the boss's influence across the world."

Beck stared excitedly as if into the unknown regions of space. Already he could feel the excitement of what was to come. If nothing else were to happen in the next few months or so, he at least had this to look forward to. "Consider it over and done."

* * *

 **Thanks again for reading this story, guys! Feel free to leave reviews/suggestions for what I could do in the future and have a great day as you continue to read/write on this site for everyone to see!**


End file.
